Apocalypse Song
by Maximus Wheeljack
Summary: What happened to Tarantulas? Kross makes plans to defeat Prowl and his Maximals. We see the return of Optimus Primal as well. New chapter is up!
1. Chapter 1

**Transformers:**

**Apocalypse Song**

_It has been one earth year since the disappearance of Optimus Primal and the renegade Predacon known as Megatron, thus marking the end of the Reformation War. Since then, a relative peace has engulfed the planet of Cybertron, but it is a peace that has a steep price. Both the Maximals and Predacons coexist on Cybertron under the umbrella of tranquility. However, not all have embraced the newfound stability between the two factions._

_No longer are the Predacons treated as equals, if they ever were. Instead, the Maximals, under the iron-fisted leadership of Phoenix Prime and the Maximal Council of Elders, have created an aura of "superiority" making it difficult for many Predacons to socialize with Maximals under any given circumstance. Therefore, several splinter factions of Predacons have emerged to thwart the peace between the Maximals and Predacons, only to have to face the tyranny of Phoenix Prime and his forces_

_Building on this feeling of displacement, the Tripredacus Council has agreed to start taking matters into their own hands. No longer are they satisfied with being "second string" to the Maximals. They are now currently setting into motion the gears of returning to war with the Maximals._

**Chapter One: **

**Absolute Power**

The rugged transport shuttle landed on the edge of the wastelands with ease amongst the hailstorm of gunfire from the bunker imbedded within the large fortress wall. The magnetic shielding activated and absorbed the impact of the plasma beams that hit it, while others bounced off the shield and headed back at the bunker. The rear end of the shuttle quickly opened up and a small ground assault vehicle rolled down the ramp. Once it hit the ground, it sped off in reverse and cleared the magnetic shield of the transport. The shuttle laid down a suppressive cover fire from two turrets under the cockpit as it lifted off of the ground and headed away from the scene.

On the ground, the small vehicle shifted into drive with a startling viciousness and began making its way toward the bunker. As it dodged the explosions from the bunker's artillery pockets, several rockets launched from the side of the ground vehicle and skimmed the surface, throwing up a plume of gray metallic dust as they streaked toward the bunker. The rockets hit the bunker and destroyed the turrets with simplicity. The small plasma cannon on top of the vehicle rotated around and took aim at several gun towers that continued raining shots down upon the moving transport.

Inside the transport, the pilot activated the targeting computer on the thick windshield. Red lines indicated the required trajectory needed to hit the next target. Finally, the onboard computer locked onto the main entrance and fired three additional rockets at it. They slammed into the door and blew a hole large enough for the vehicle to squeeze through. The pilot looked back at the crew and gave a "thumbs up" gesture. "She's all clear, sir," he began. "I'm positioning the battering ram just in case we encounter any resistance, but we shouldn't have any problems."

A red and black Transformer stood there with one arm holding onto a bracket just above the exit to the vehicle. He glanced over at the pilot and demagnetized his plasma rifle from his back holster. "Let them come," he said coldly. "This orn marks the end of another Predacon resistance cell."

The hulking Transformer looked at his small crew of Maximals who teemed with anticipation of the ensuing fight with the Predacons; each was eager to unleash their brute force upon the weakened Predacons. The Transformer looked down upon his crew and stood straight as he began to address them. "Show no mercy," he said in his deep voice. "Let them know the fury of the Slagstalkers!"

The thick spike covered battering ram slid upward into its position over the front of the engine. The vehicle quickly made its way up the embankment and rolled past two small turrets that failed to lock onto the moving target.

The transport then plowed through the hole and skimmed the sides of it, sending yellow and orange sparks into the air. It slammed into a small barricade and debris was strewn throughout the vicinity. The door opened and the large Maximal grabbed his rifle with both hands. He gave a quick glance at his team and turned off the safety of the gun.

"Kill them!" he shouted. "Kill them all!"

As he stepped out of the vehicle, he took aim at an approaching Predacon and fired off two rounds from his gun. Both shots hit the unsuspecting Predacon in the abdomen and severed his frame in half. The blast-holes in the Predacon's back sent wires, internal mechanisms, and fluid against the nearby wall. The Maximal took aim at the dying Predacon's upper chest and fired again, this time blowing off the right portion of his torso. He glanced at his handiwork for a moment, and he nodded with pleasure to himself. He then went back to work, making sure to take careful aim at the next Predacon.

The second Maximal that stepped out of the transport was a slender female Transformer. She took two swords from out of the housing that was attached to her back and they glistened in the light. She then activated the energy flow and they both burned red. She leapt up into the air and grabbed onto a pillar with the claws in her feet. She spotted two Predacons and lunged at them with her swords at her sides.

She landed in a crouching position in-between the two Predacons. The Maximal smiled to herself, took one graceful stroke with her arms at the two Predacons as she stood up, and then she paused for a moment. The two Predacons stood motionless as they began to realize that something was horribly wrong. One Predacon gestured to take a step backward, but he doubled over and fell to the ground in two separate halves spilling energon all over the floor. The second Predacon noticed this and winced at the fact that he knew that he was already dead; all he had to do was move.

Seeing that the Predacon would not move, the female Maximal slammed her foot on the ground and startled the Predacon. As he flinched, he felt part of his body slide away from the other portion, and then his two halves landed on the floor in a pool of pink energon. As his optics flickered, he saw the heel of the Maximal come crashing down upon him, and then his world was black.

The other three Maximals who exited the vehicle were just as ferocious when dealing with the Predacons as the other two were. Each of them took careful aim at their targets and picked them off one at a time.

Realizing that the situation was hopeless, the leader of the Predacon cell looked at his loyal second in command. He placed his hand upon his friend's shoulder and looked into his red optics. "I only need a few breems to get this information to the Tripredacus!" he shouted over the sound of death that echoed throughout the room. "I'm not asking that you sacrifice yourself, but I _am_ asking for some time!"

His friend nodded and understood that they were all going to die this very orn, no matter what happened. He gave his commanding officer a smile and spoke. "Rig the flarging place to blow sky high!" he said.

The commander nodded and began running down the hallway in a crouching position, hoping to avoid being spotted and shot. He made it around the corner and paused for a moment. He glanced down the way that he just ran and saw that his troops were giving everything they had to hold off the Maximals.

Realizing that he had only a few breems, he continued running down the hall and made his way to the door to the control center. He entered the proper code and the door opened for him. Once he made his way inside of the command center, he shut the door and scrambled the code hoping that it would buy him some additional time.

The Predacon frantically made his way to the communication consol and accessed the hardware that gave him a link to the Tripredacus. The Predacon symbol appeared on the screen and then the outline of the three members of the council appeared.

"Has it been done?" one of the council members asked.

The Predacon kneeled down in front of the monitor and bowed his head. "Yes," he spoke softly. "However, our location has been compromised."

"Indeed it has," another voice said. "Although it is unfortunate to lose such valued operatives as yourselves, understand that you have completed your objective with absolute perfection."

The Predacon looked up at the monitor and tilted his head. "How is that?" he asked. "The Maximals have discovered us and. . ."

"Do not worry," another voice said. "The Maximals have done exactly what we have calculated." With that said, the monitor switched off and the Predacon symbol reappeared.

The Predacon stood up and starred at the monitor, completely unaware of the fact that the room had just been breached by the five Maximals. He felt a sharp piercing sensation in his abdomen and grabbed it. He felt the thin blade of the energy sword and looked at his energon covered hands. The Predacon fell to his knees and the sword was quickly pulled from his body. He looked up and saw the five Maximals standing there with a pleased look in their optics. He nodded and then fell to his side.

Four of the Maximals kicked and beat the Predacon relentlessly. Energon and other internal fluid stained the ground that he was laying on. He struggled to stay on-line and desperately tried to protect himself from the beating by curling up tightly into a ball.

As he lay there with energon spilling out from his wounds, his optics flickered as he saw the leader point the rifle at his head module. He coughed and red fluid spat out of his mouth and onto the foot of the Maximal leader. The looming Maximal squad leader became disgusted at the sight of the slop on his polished boot. The Maximal then kicked the Predacon in the mouth and sent him rolling across the room.

The Maximal walked over to the dying Predacon and kneeled down next to him. He grabbed the Predacon by the back of his head module and whispered into his right audio receptor. "I'm sure you'll be joined by your downtrodden kin soon enough."

The Maximal then shoved the Predacon's head into the floor and held it there by the base of his neck. The Maximal then punched the Predacon in the back of the head so hard that the casing caved in and sent his neural-net all over the floor. The Maximal stood up and grabbed the tangled mess that was once the head of the Predacon. He held it over his head and nodded.

"Let all who oppose the Maximal Right be put to death!" he shouted. The Maximals all cheered at the sight of Phoenix Prime holding his trophy from the battle.

* * *

The lights on the ceiling made the highly polished walls and floor glisten; everything was immaculate in the hallway, as well as throughout the entire complex. The two figures walked side by side down the hall and made their way to the elevator on the opposite end of the lobby. 

Prowl did not enjoy coming to see the Council of Elders as he once did. Somehow, since the disappearance of Primal and Megatron, he felt an uneasiness overcome his spark every time that he entered the Council Temple in Iacon.

Prowl took a brief moment and looked over the data report from the current situation outside of Kaon. As usual, Prowl could not believe what he was reading, and shook his head in disbelief at what he scanned.

_Maximal Leader Devastates Predacon Outpost_.

After reading the headline, Prowl accessed the article and scrolled through the streaming data. He then looked over at Swiftwing who was walking with him and rubbed the bridge of his nose in an attempt to alleviate some of the stress that began to build up in his head.

"Do you want to read this?" Prowl asked Swiftwing with a sarcastic tone.

Swiftwing reached over and grabbed the data pad off of Prowl. "It's probably nothing that we haven't read before." Swiftwing started scanning the information for himself. "Sweet Primus," he said to Prowl. "What's this now, the _eighth_ time that something like _this_ has come across the net?" Disgusted, he handed the pad back to Prowl and they continued to walk down the hallway. "The Cybertronian Free Press Network will have a wonderful time with this slag."

As they reached the elevator at the end of the hallway, Prowl turned to his friend and looked him in the optics. "Just what was the Council thinking when they passed the Matrix-Core to him?" He placed his hand on the consol and keyed in the appropriate code for the elevator to open.

"Maybe they weren't thinking?" Swiftwing said with a smirk.

Frustrated, Prowl sighed with discontent. "His leadership role is something that needs to be addressed if slag like this continues."

Swiftwing smiled at his friend and nodded. "Do you really think they're going to do something like that after all he's done for them?" He looked up and saw that the elevator was reaching their level. "He's practically wiped out all of the Predacon resistance with that team of his."

There was a low hum as the elevator reached their floor. The doors split open and the two Maximals looked inside of the elevator and saw another one of their friends.

"I'm sure that you two saw the news," the tall Maximal said.

Both Prowl and Swiftwing nodded as they entered the elevator. "Indeed, Victory," Prowl said. "Slag like that has got to stop. He's making us look just as bad as the Predacons."

Victory stood there and nodded at Prowl's comment. "Dealing with renegade Predacon cells is one thing, but when you slaughter them with no remorse you're really asking for problems, even if he is the Prime."

Swiftwing pressed the close button and the doors of the elevator began to shut. He turned around and looked at both Prowl and Victory. "But like I was saying to Prowl, do you really think that the elders are going to do anything about it?"

Victory crossed his hands in front of his chest and shook his head. "No," he said sternly. "I can't see the elders issuing any type of discipline for any reason. It's like he has free reign when dealing with the Predacons."

Prowl looked at Swiftwing and nodded. "Something has to be done," he said. "Besides, he's never found Magmatron or Kross, and that's what he was sent out to do, not to kill every Predacon who doesn't agree with the Pax."

Swiftwing smiled at his friend and placed his hand on Prowl's shoulder. "Do you want to tell him that?" he asked. "We've all dealt with some extreme bots, but this is ridiculous."

The elevator came to a stop and the three Transformers turned to face the door. Each of them understood that their conversation went no further than the room that they were in, but they somehow knew that they were being watched by building security.

As they exited the elevator, they were greeted by the head of the Maximal Secret Police. She stood there tall and slender and had a rigid smile chiseled on her face. She approached the three Maximals and glared at Prowl. "I'm not in the mood, Prowl," she snapped.

Prowl looked at the female Maximal and nodded at her. "Neither am I, Uno." Prowl walked past her and stood by the door to the Council chambers. "I plan on having a word with them about Phoenix and his 'methods' when dealing with the Predacons."

Uno looked at Victory and Swiftwing and blocked their path to the door. "And just what the slag do you two want?" she said with authority.

Swiftwing took a step toward Uno and smiled at her. "I think that it is best that we _all _state our opinions on the current situation." He looked past Uno and saw Prowl at the door. "It would be wise if. . ."

"You just leave the whole situation alone!" She snapped as she curtly interrupted Swiftwing. "There is no need to bother the Council with your petty concerns when it comes to the Prime. After all, _they _are the one who appointed him, so do you really think you're going to change that decision?"

"Probably not," a deep voice said from behind Uno. "But we try."

Uno forced a smile onto her face and turned around. She starred at the figure who addressed her. "Lovely to see you too, Grimlock," she said. "But even with _your _'disillusioned' view on the situation, I highly doubt that anything will change!"

Grimlock walked over to Uno and looked down into her yellow optics. He chuckled as he began to address her again. "Me wonder what they have you covering up this time," he said as he rubbed his chin. "Maybe it time that me start looking into your operations."

Uno smirked at Grimlock's statement and crossed her arms. "You do that, Grimlock," she said. "I'll be waiting for that orn." She turned around and looked at the three Maximals who were now standing by the entrance to the Council Chamber. "I'll inform the Council that you're here to address you little 'concern' with them." She placed her hand on the control panel and the door slid open. "Wait here until someone escorts you in."

All three of the Maximals looked at the Dinobot and smiled at him. Victory walked over to his friend and shook his hand. "I'm glad to see that someone has the bearings to deal with that witch."

Grimlock snorted as he glared back into Victory's optics. "She right, you know," he said. He looked at Prowl and Swiftwing and walked over to them. "The Council will not do anything about Prime."

Swiftwing stepped closer to Grimlock and nodded at his comment. "Then perhaps it is time that we do something about it."

* * *

Kross slammed his hand on the control panel and kicked the wall. His frustration began to grow exponentially as he grew tired of attempting to decipher the encryption on the disk. He turned around and looked at the rest of his crew who tried to tell him that decoding the golden disk was next to impossible. 

"Damn this Predacon scrap!" he shouted as he threw his hands up in the air in aggravation. "I thought that our technology was far more advanced than this!" He walked over to his second in command who was in charge of the group while he was in Maximal custody. "Where did you say you got this disk?"

The tall green Predacon walked over to the consol and ejected the disk from it. "According to the data that we intercepted, it was retrieved from an old Decepticon cruiser that was listing somewhere outside of the Nebulan Rim." He took the disk and handed it to Kross. "Reports stated that all of the relics on the shuttle were dead, probably from the war with the Dread."

"I'm not interested in a history lesson, Downtrodden!" Kross snapped causing the Predacon to flinch. "Especially when I lived through it!" He snatched the disk from the Predacon and examined it. "What I want to know is what is on it and why!"

A shorter red and orange Predacon walked over to Kross and rubbed his hands together. "From the intelligence that I have studied, you might be happy to know that the Decepticon ship was not from a registered shuttle listed in the Alliance." He gently took the disk from his leader and tapped it on his wrist. "I would then presume that those on board the ship were part of the Loyalist movement, as you were."

There was no expression on Kross's face. The only indication of life in his body was the fact that his single eye in the center of his squared face glowed a bright red. "Indeed," he said in a pleased manner. "If this is what I think it is, then we may have the upper hand in our endeavors!" He looked back at the red and orange Predacon and patted him on the shoulder. "Excellent work, Weasel."

The smaller Predacon smiled at his leader and glanced over at Downtrodden who was sneering that the sight of an underling being praised. "Thank you, my liege."

Kross looked at the disk again and nodded at it as it glowed in the lighting of the room. "If what you say is true, then we don't have the capability to translate the data here." He turned around and brought up a map of the southern pole of Cybertron. He accessed some additional data and brought up a small section of the planet on the screen. "We need to move out to that location," he said as he pointed at the monitor.

Downtrodden stepped forward and rubbed his shoulder. "What's there?" he asked as if he was almost afraid to do so.

Kross turned around and tapped the bottom of his faceplate with his hand. "The only computer left that has the potential to access this information," he said. He brought up another image on the computer and glared intently at it with his single optic. "Vector Sigma!"

* * *

The look on Phoenix Prime's face said it all. There was no need for any of the Maximals in the room to try and interpret the look in his optics; he was furious beyond belief. 

_How dare they!_ He thought to himself. _After all that I have done, these throwbacks dare to question my loyalty to the Maximal cause! _He crossed his arms as he sat there and listened to the words that came out of the Maximals mouths.

Prowl glanced over at Phoenix Prime for a moment and understood immediately what he was thinking. Prowl also understood that he was now crossing a line that he never thought that he would have to. He approached the Council and continued to read from the data pad.

"Furthermore, I suggest that Phoenix Prime be removed from active field duty in order to alleviate some of the negative press that we will ultimately endure as a result of his continued actions." Prowl looked at Victory and Swiftwing who were accompanied by Grimlock. He then looked back at the Council and held the pad at his side. "Sediments like this abound in the lower ranks of the Maximals, as well as by the non-faction Cybertronians." He looked over at Phoenix Prime who was leaning over to a female Maximal. "Should incidents like this reoccur in the future, we would have. . ."

"That is quite enough, Prowl," one of the Council members said to him. "I highly doubt that you are shedding light on any new issue."

Prowl approached the Council and brought the pad back to his chest. "The information that I have provided. . ."

"Is inconclusive, at best," another member said to him. "The truth is that although Phoenix Prime's tactics are a little extreme, he has brought peace to Cybertron."

A third member looked at Prowl and nodded. "Indeed," he stated. "Phoenix Prime has done exactly what we hoped that he would do."

Prowl became confused and shook his head in disbelief. "And what is that?" he said.

The third member looked into Prowl's optics and smiled. "Why, he as brought the Predacon resistance to a halt."

"That deserves some credit, Prowl," another Council member said. "Standing there accusing him of abuse is preposterous, at best!"

Prowl looked over at Phoenix Prime and the female Maximal who were obviously amused by Prowl's confusion. He then looked back at the Council and shook his head. "This is not how we were left here to govern!" he snapped. "The Autobots. . ."

"Did not leave us with much to work with, now did they?" the first member said in his zeal. "Your 'kin' left us here with a husk of a planet, with barely enough energy to get from one orn to then next!" He stood up and looked at Prowl with disgust. "Your Autobot heroes left us here to populate the planet, cultivate it, and to attempt to breathe life back into our race!"

Another member of the Council looked at Prowl and shook his head. "Indeed," he said. "The last of the Autobots left Cybertron and promised a return ushering in a new age of glory for Cybertronians! But where are they?" He looked at Prowl for a response. Dissatisfied with no immediate answer, he shook his head. "That's right!" he barked. "You don't know! Nobody knows!"

Prowl stepped toward the Council in anger. He threw the data pad on the floor and it shattered. "My Autobot brothers and sisters left Cybertron to ensure that the threat of the Dread was over!" he said as he slammed his fist on the table. "They left you in charge to nurture Cybertron until they returned, but you haven't done a decent job at it, now have you?"

The first Council member leaned over the table and glared into Prowl's blue optics. "You call the tranquility on this planet a failure?" he asked. "As I recall, your kind was at war up until the Apocalypse, and it still had a tense era of peace after Unicron's attack!" He looked over at Phoenix Prime and the dark Maximal stood, along with the female Maximal. "The truth is that we've created a society that no longer relies on the hope that the 'glorious Autobots' will return and deliver us out of our dark ages!"

"As a mater of fact, we hope that they never return," a Council member said as he glanced out toward Prowl.

Prowl shook his head and realized something. "You don't intend on returning the authority back to the Autobots, now do you?"

All of the Council members sat down and ignored Prowl's statement. The center Council member waived to Phoenix Prime and he made his way over to them.

"Yes," Phoenix Prime bellowed.

"I think we've all been insulted enough today," he said. "Please see that our 'company' is removed from the premises immediately, if not sooner.

"Yes, Council member." Phoenix Prime turned and looked at Prowl. He grabbed him by the arm and pulled on it as he headed toward the door. "Let's go!" he shouted.

Prowl pulled his arm away and glared back at Phoenix Prime. "I don't need _your _help," he said. "I can find my own way."

Prowl walked over to his friends and they exited the room. Phoenix Prime looked at his female companion and she ran over to his side. They both followed the four Maximals out of the room and waited for the door to close.

"Let me set you straight, Prowl," Phoenix Prime began. "Should you ever question me or my tactics again I'll stuff you into a stasis pod so fast you won't even know what happened!" He looked over at his partner and she smiled. "What do you think, Demon Diva?"

The female Maximal smiled slightly, revealing her fangs. "Tempting," she hissed. She walked over to Prowl and lightly traced the Maximal symbol on his chest with the claw on her finger. "I'd take the challenge any day."

Prowl grabbed her hand and flung it away from his chest. Phoenix Prime stepped closer to Prowl and glanced over at Demon Diva. "You dare touch my subordinate?" he asked.

The female Maximal hissed at Prowl and sneered at the sight of him. "Arrogant heap!" she yelled. "If you dare touch me again I'll rip out your spark with my bare hand!"

Grimlock stomped over to Phoenix Prime and slid between him and Prowl. The sheer size of his chest pushed the Prime back. "You touch him and you deal with me!" he snapped.

Furious with the situation, Uno walked over with three guards and took Grimlock by the forearm. "That's enough!" she yelled. "I don't give an Insectacon's ass who each of you are; if you so much as flex another rotator I'll send you all into stasis lock!"

Phoenix Prime looked at Uno and growled. "How dare you!" he snorted. "How dare you. . ."

"Oh shut up!" Uno exclaimed. "Your jurisdiction ended as soon as your waltzed your ass into the complex! Now get the hell out of here!" She pointed to the elevator and shook her head. "Dealing with rouge Preds is one thing, but I'll be _damned_ if I have to deal with waste-holes of my own kind!"

Phoenix Prime and Demon Diva walked over to the elevator which was already opened. He pushed the button and the doors began to close. However, just before they did, he managed to get in one last thought. "Be careful what you wish for, Uno." With that said, the doors shut and the elevator began to descend.

Uno turned around and looked at Prowl. "Satisfied?" she asked. "I don't plan on doing slag like this again, so pick your fights wisely next time."

Prowl nodded at Uno and smiled at her. "Thank you," he said. He then looked at his three friends and wondered what was next.


	2. Chapter 2

**Transformers: **

**Apocalypse Song**

_It has been one earth year since the disappearance of Optimus Primal and the renegade Predacon known as Megatron, thus marking the end of the Reformation War. Since then, a relative peace has engulfed the planet of Cybertron, but it is a peace that has a steep price. Both the Maximals and Predacons co-habitat Cybertron under the umbrella of tranquility. However, not all have embraced the newfound stability between the two factions._

_No longer are the Predacons treated as equals, if they ever were. Instead, the Maximals, under the iron-fisted leadership of Phoenix Prime and the Maximal Council of Elders, have created an aura of "superiority" making it difficult for many Predacons to socialize with Maximals under any given circumstances. Therefore, several splinter factions of Predacons have emerged to thwart the peace between the Maximals and Predacons, only to have to face the tyranny of Phoenix Prime and his forces_

_Building on this feeling of displacement, the Tripredacus Council has agreed to start taking matters into their own hands. No longer are they satisfied with being "second string" to the Maximals. They are now currently setting into motion the gears of returning to war with the Maximals. _

**Chapter Two: **

**The Path Laid Out**

_The Southern Pole_

Downtrodden heard stories while in the Maximal prison camp during the Reformation War. He heard about sparkless Transformers who were relentlessly scavenging for energon after they were abandoned here when the Dread War ended. There were tales of swarms of Insecticons who plagued the area and ate any Transformer who came down here alive. However, he remembered one story in particular.

The Ghost Spark.

Quite often Downtrodden would laugh off the stories that he had heard while in captivity, but this story had some merit to it. There were countless testimonies on how one spark refused to join the rest to wipe out the Dread; this spark relentlessly battled the calling of the Matrix as it was summoned. Finally, when the sparks of billions of Transformers were united, the Dread were destroyed leaving the Matrix hollow and void of both knowledge and life. This single spark saw the opportunity to possess the Matrix and become the ultimate being, even surpassing the abominable Unicron.

However, the plans were not as easily achievable as the spark had originally conceived. Once the Matrix was empty, the spark attempted to enter the holy object but was denied access to it. The hatred and malevolence that this spark possessed was enough to keep the spark from entering the Matrix, thus creating a spark that had no ability to ever rest in peace. The spark was sentenced to an eternity to wander the universe without the ability to ever join Primus in the Well of the Allspark.

Disgusted with the inability to possess the Matrix, the spark wandered the planet aimlessly, taking possession of any mech that it came in contact with. Some say that once the spark possessed you, he would try and kill himself over and over in an attempt to confuse the Matrix and gain entrance to it. However, the Matrix saw past the spark's attempt and again denied it access.

Some say that the spark recently possessed Megatron, thus causing him to leave Cybertron and die in the transwarp hole on his way to the Sol System. Others say that the spark still haunts this region of Cybertron looking for another Transformer to possess. Either way, Downtrodden did not like being here while the thought of the Ghost Spark filled his neural network.

Downtrodden turned his attention to the long-range scanner in an attempt to spot any Maximal activity approaching. He watched the monitor intently making sure to warn Kross or Weasel of any sign that the Maximals might be on their way. That is when his mind shifted gears and he began to think about Weasel.

_The sniveling_ _bastard!_ he thought to himself. All of the time that Kross had been in prison, Downtrodden was responsible for the group; he was the one that discovered the listing Loyalist ship. Downtrodden was also the one who ventured on board the ship when everybody else was too afraid to do so. There was countless times when he placed his own spark in danger for the well being of Kross and his rogue band of Predacons, but now that seemed to have changed.

Weasel shifted his weight and turned his head around to catch a glimpse of Downtrodden; he knew what he was thinking. Weasel understood that Downtrodden enjoyed the stability of being second in command, and that he would never give it up, no matter what. This made Weasel feel uneasy knowing that he now had to deal with enemies from within his own group.

Weasel went back to work on hacking into the run-down Decepticon hideout. He decrypted hundreds of codes that kept rerouting him out of the network. There were times that he wanted to give up and blast a hole in the consol, but he understood that if he wanted safety from Downtrodden, he would have to break the code.

Kross was becoming frustrated as he waited for Weasel to figure out the coding process. He glared at the computer and resented the fact that the Decepticon decommissioned every known means of technology after the Alliance was created. He touched the oversized consol which was much larger than he was, now that he was reformatted as a Predacon, something that he did not want in the first place.

Finally giving in to his frustration, Kross grabbed Weasel by the shoulder and spoke into his audio receptor. "How much longer will this take?" he demanded to know.

Weasel turned around and covered up his own frustration. "Dealing with encryption codes such as this takes time, especially when our means are so different than the Loyalists." He looked down to his portable computer and keyed in some additional data. "That Decepticon, Blastwave, really made sure that his information could not be hacked."

Kross grunted at the thought of his friend's name being disgraced by a lesser. "His name was Shockwave, you idiot!" he snapped. "He made sure that the Loyalists, should they have been caught, did not easily give information to the Autobots."

Weasel shook his head as he continued to break the code. "All I know is that if this ancient computer really does contain access to Vector Sigma, then he really made sure that nobody. . ." Weasel paused for a moment as he realized that the code was broken. A primitive form of the Predacon symbol appeared on the screen and information began to scroll down it. "I think I got it!" he shouted.

Kross pushed Weasel to the side and reached for his left wrist. He pulled out a small wire and plugged it into the main consol. Then, he inserted the gold disk into the computer and a low hum emanated as the information was accessed. Kross nodded as he began to read the information for himself. "Yes," he said to himself as he reached over to Weasel."Give me a blank disk!"

Weasel did as his leader asked and he handed a black diskette to Kross. Kross inserted it into the other drive and it immediately began to copy the decrypted information onto it.

Downtrodden walked over to Kross and looked up at the huge screen, unable to read what it had written on it. He looked at Kross and tilted his head. "What does it say?" he asked.

Kross pulled the wire from the computer and turned to his two subordinates. He pointed to the information on the screen and nodded. "This, my loyal Predacons, is the means of restoring the balance of power back to the Predacons!" He chuckled for a moment and regained his composure. "We no longer have to cower behind the Tripredacus either!" He let out a roar of laughter while Weasel and Downtrodden looked at each other.

"How is that?" Weasel asked.

Kross stopped laughing and glanced over at Weasel. "Contact Fearswoop and have him pick us up in the designated area." He looked back at the computer as the diskettes ejected. He picked them up and placed them both in his side compartment. "It's past time that we made a little road trip!"

* * *

The Maximal shuttle known as the _Optimus I_ docked gently into its proper station onboard the orbiting space station of _Ark Haven_. The magnetic clamps attached to the underbelly of the ship, as well as with the nose. A small docking bridge extended from the hull of the station and nudged against the shuttle, causing another set of magnetic clamps to attach to the ship. Once a hard seal was created, the exit to the shuttle opened and the crew was able to disembark from the _Optimus I_. 

Prowl smiled and looked over at Swiftwing, who was leaning back in his chair. Prowl stood up and walked over to his friend, placing his hand on Swiftwing's shoulder. "Great flying, Swift," he stated.

Swiftwing looked up at his friend and smiled back. "You know, some day you're going to have to learn how to do this all by yourself," he said with sarcasm.

Prowl shook his head and began walking toward the doorway of the bridge. "Not on your spark," he said. "Far be it from me to take away the job that you do best."

Swiftwing blurted out a loud laugh and swivelled around in his chair. "Yeah. This and keeping your chassis out of trouble!"

Prowl opened the door to the bridge and stood in the outer hallway. He turned to his friend and nodded at him. "It looks like you're going to have your hands full these orns then," he replied. The door closed and he began walking down the hall.

As Prowl made his way to the exit, he stopped in front of one of his crew member's quarters. He paused for a moment wondering if he should intrude. However, being the responsible "father figure" that everyone thought he was, he knocked on the door. The door slid open and he saw a member of his crew sitting at a table starring at a holographic projection.

Prowl walked over to the Maximal and looked at the projection as well. "Still pondering life, Orion?" he asked.

The young Maximal did not move. Instead, he continued to gaze at the image. After a moment, he realized that Prowl was not going anywhere, so he addressed his commanding officer. "I suppose so, sir," the red and white Maximal said.

Prowl kneeled down and placed his hand on the Maximal's shoulder. "You know, starring at the image of Ultra Magnus can't resolve anything, Orion." Prowl shifted his weight and looked at the young Maximal. "You are you, and nobody else."

Prowl attempted to understand the difficulty that Orion Magnus must have with coping with his existence. In a way, that is why he took the young Maximal as part of his crew. Prowl believed that he could try and shed some light on who he was prior to the Dread War, but he really enforced that Ultra Magnus was dead, and that Orion Magnus was someone totally separate from him, but sometimes it never seemed to work. Prowl knew that someday Orion Magnus would have to face the reality of his past.

Orion Magnus looked over at Prowl and smiled. "I wish that were true, Prowl," he said.

Prowl stood up and placed his hand on Orion Magnus's shoulder. "Why don't we go to the command deck and see what's new with Leo while Liger and Swiftwing finish the scanning?"

Orion Magnus nodded at the thought of seeing his old friend Leo, the only other maximal that Orion Magnus could identify with when it came to his feelings. The two Maximals made their way to the door and headed out of the shuttle.

* * *

Kross stood in front of the five Predacons and rubbed his hands together. He looked at the awe in their optics and wondered if they were ready for such a task, but it mattered little if they were or were not prepared. The overbearing Predacon understood that they only way to tip the balance of power to be strictly under the Predacon control, but more importantly directly to him, was to take this venture to where he had planned. 

The large monitor behind Kross took up a sizable portion of the wall and displayed the mapped galaxy that the Predacons were familiar with. They saw Cybertron, New Lithone, Charr, Nebulos, Krytall, and other various planets that were inhabited by both Maximals and other Cybertronians. However, what they did not see was what Kross had hidden from them.

"This, my Predacons, is the galaxy that we've become entrapped within," Kross spoke in his arrogance. "For far too long, our Predacon kin have been held within these boundaries, banned from ever going any further." He turned to the monitor and placed his finger on Cybertron. "And this cursed planet has become our personal hell-hole!"

A gold and gray Predacon stood up and looked at Kross. "What are we to do about it?" he asked. "The Maximals. . ."

"Have made it so that we can no longer realize our true potential, Heatwave!" Kross added as he interrupted his follower. "While they go out exploring and manipulate the universe to however they see fit, we sit here and rot!"

Weasel nodded at Kross's words. "Indeed," he said. "If we've truly been 'united' as one race, why do we not enjoy the same luxuries as the Maximals?"

Downtrodden glanced over at Weasel and sneered at the sight of the Predacon as he sat there. Downtrodden turned his attention back to Kross and leaned back in his seat, making sure that he did not reveal his anger to anybody else.

Kross stepped away from the monitor and placed his hands on his hips. He looked at the crowd of Predacons and tilted his head to his right. "That is all about to change for us, my loyal Predacons!" He looked at the monitor and a new image appeared. It was a single planet that was mostly covered in blue, with some white clouds in the atmosphere. There was a lone moon in its orbit and many of the Predacons began to wonder if this was the image of what they thought it was. "I'm sure you've all heard the stories of the legend of Earth."

The Predacons looked at each other, with the exception of Weasel, as Kross confirmed their notion. The lone Predacon stood up to get a better view of the planet. "What are you suggesting?" Weasel asked Kross.

The large blue and black Predacon laughed for a moment as the rest of the Predacons starred at the image. He took two steps closer to the monitor and touched the planet with his right hand. "My dear friends, we are leaving this waste-pit of a planet and heading to Earth to begin life anew!"

Fearswoop walked up to the monitor and smiled at the sight of the planet. He had heard stories of how the Autobots and Decepticons had inhabited the planet, but he never thought that he would have a chance to walk those hallow grounds. "Just how do you plan on us getting there, Kross?" he asked his leader.

Kross took a step away from the monitor and rubbed his throat. He starred at Fearswoop with his lone optic and crossed his hands in front of his chest. "The six of us will be able to secure an authorized launch by using an older access codex that I have recently 'procured' before I arrived back from my stint in the Maximal prison." He looked at the other Predacons and walked to the back of the room. He stood by the mainframe consol and ejected the gold disk from it. "The code will provide us with the ability to reach orbit, while this disk will give us the coordinates to reach Earth."

A yellow and black Predacon leaned back in her chair and smiled at the holes that she saw in her commander's plan. "And what do you suggest that we do when we get there?" she asked as if she was questioning Kross's scheme. "The humans will. . ."

"The humans will be none of our concern, my dear Antagony!" Kross said loudly as he made his way over to the door. "I have developed a small phase in my plan that will ensure that we are not noticed among the human germs!"

Kross did not like having his methods questioned by his followers, especially by Antagony. He questioned her loyalty to his faction since the day she joined it. However, Kross understood that he was at war, and this was a war that was not only against the Maximals, but against the Tripredacus and other rogue Predacons as well. This meant that he needed every available resource, including Antagony, but he reveled in the thought of slowly extinguishing her spark when the final phases of his plan came to fruition.

Antagony smiled to herself as she glared at the image of Earth. "And what is that?" she asked as if she was waiting to be impressed.

Kross clenched his fists and attempted to calm his anger before he spoke to his group. After a moment, he looked at the Predacons and nodded. "Yes," he began in a cold fashion. "One orn will come and we will have to shed the ties that bound us to this planet and the identities that we have embraced." He turned to the door and opened it. "We will take a new step in the direction of conquest. However, we will need some expertise in the area of evolution!"

A tall black figure stood in the dimly lit hall and approached the room. All of the Predacons turned to face the Transformer, and each of the Predacons easily recognized the mech without any shadow of a doubt. Weasel glanced over at Downtrodden, who in turn looked over at Weasel. Each of the two Predacons understood that they would now have to work past their differences if they were to succeed in becoming the new leader of this group.

As the tall figure entered the room, Kross turned to his followers and placed his right hand on the figure. "My dear Predacons. Allow me to introduce Malpractice."

The black Transformer gazed down at the other Predacons and gave no expression of emotion. His red optics calculated each of their proportions and abilities without even a second glance. He walked over to Weasel and pulled him up by his shoulder.

"Indeed," he said in his deep voice. "You will all do nicely."

Kross laughed at the sight of fear in Weasel's optics. The Predacon walked over to Malpractice and Weasel and he placed his hands on the two of them. "This will mark the orn that even that arrogant bastard Megatron would have to acknowledge, if he was still operational!"

* * *

Prowl smiled as he looked at the bridge of _Ark Haven_. He glanced around and saw the Maximals keeping a watchful optic on what was occurring on Cybertron, which gave Prowl a feeling of comfort. He began walking from the elevator to the command consol where he saw his old friend. 

A tall Maximal handed an officer a data pad and smiled as Prowl approached him. He took a step in Prowl's direction and shook his hand as they met. "How are you holding up?" he asked.

Prowl smiled and nodded at the Maximal. "Not too bad, Leo," he said. "How's things here?"

Leo turned around and rubbed his hands together as he starred at the digital image of Cybertron on the wall monitor. "She's all nice and quiet," he responded. "To tell you the truth, I'm enjoying the peace while it's lasting."

Prowl nodded in agreement with his old friend. "I hear that," he said. "At least the Predacon activity has died down somewhat since the disappearance of Megatron."

Leo turned to look at his friend. "That's true," he said. "But I'd be happier if I knew what exactly happened with Primal and Megs."

Prowl rubbed his chin and looked at the image of Cybertron again. "I would too, Leo." The two Maximals stood there and glanced at the image of Cybertron as it sat peacefully against the backdrop of space.

* * *

Fearswoop fed the codex into the navigational and identity computer just as Kross had commanded. He read over the accessing program and entered the proper information to acquire clearance for launch from the Maximals. After the data had been entered, he sat back in his chair and waited for confirmation from the Maximals. 

Weasel walked over to Fearswoop and leaned down to check that the information was entered correctly. "Any word from the Maximals?" he asked.

Fearswoop glanced over at Weasel and shook his head. "I'm waiting on it now," he replied. "The information imputed indicates that we're en route to New Lithone carrying technical parts and a small labor-class crew." He turned around in his chair and looked directly at Weasel. "So what's up with our cargo?" he asked.

Weasel shook his head at Fearswoop and squinted at the new information streaming across the monitor. ""I'm just as clueless as you are, Fearswoop." He placed his finger on the monitor and stood up. "There's our flight confirmation. Initiate launch sequence; the Maximals bought it!"

Fearswoop began the launch sequence and adjusted the anti-gravitational driver. The Predacon ship began to vibrate as it started lifting off of the ground. As the ship cleared the surface of the planet, the landing gear was retracted and the ship rotated to the proper launching trajectory.

Weasel looked over at the command chair and saw Kross whispering to Malpractice. He walked over and addressed the pair of ominous Predacons. "We are prepared, Kross."

The Predacon commander nodded and starred at the bridge's main view screen. "Excellent," he said as he leaned back in his chair. He looked over at the other side of the room and glanced at Heatwave. "Once we've been given transwarp clearance, change the trajectory to those imputed into the computer."

Heatwave nodded at Kross and turned around. He accessed the proper information that made the Maximals believe that they were headed to New Lithone, and adjusted the necessary calculations needed to reach Earth.

* * *

The Maximal known as Scout had been transferred to the _Ark Haven_ shortly after the disaster with the _Axalon_. He volunteered for the assignment figuring that a change in scenery might do him good. Normally, Scout's job was pretty simple; monitor any spacecraft activity and report any anomalies to the chief on call. On an average orn, the job went on without any problems that needed the attention of the commanding officer. However, there were some exciting times when rogue Predacons attempted an unsanctioned launch, but those attempt were usually stopped immediately by Maximal operatives. 

The current data that began running across Scout's monitor was routine, suggesting nothing out of the ordinary. He glanced over the flight coordinates and information that was being processed from the Maximal Launch Command in Iacon.

However, despite the fact that the information about the ship in question had been validated by Iacon Command, Scout second guessed the information. He accessed the available data about the shuttle and brought it up in a window on his monitor. The information stated that the shuttle was indeed headed to New Lithone with technicians, but what bothered Scout was the classification of the ship.

Scout turned around in his seat and waived to Leo. "Sir, I think we might have a problem."

Leo and Prowl both walked over to Scout's monitor and leaned down to get a glimpse of the information on it. Leo leaned in and began reading over the data about the ship. "What seems to be the problem, Scout?" he asked.

Scout sat back down in his chair and pointed to the ship's classification. "Normally, I probably wouldn't have this kind of shuttle running parts and crew to New Lithone." He looked at Leo and Prowl and shook his head. "Why is a Scorpion Class vessel taking that kind of equipment to New Lithone?" He looked directly into Leo's optics. "Weren't Scorpion Class ships designed for combat?"

Leo looked over at Prowl on nodded. "Yeah, Scout. It was." He turned his attention to the monitor and accessed the communication link with the shuttle. "_Ark Haven_ to flight seven-two-two. Please respond."

There was a crackle in the speaker as the communication was being relayed. "Flight seven-two-two here," the voice said calmly. "What seems to be the problem?"

Leo stood up and brought the ship's image on the main screen of the bridge and starred at it. "Not too much," he replied in an effort to keep the situation under control. "What's the nature of the mission?"

There was a pause for a moment and Prowl looked at Leo. He walked over to his friend and leaned in to speak to him. "Maybe we should send an escort?"

Leo nodded as he waited for a response. "Yeah. That's probably a good idea." He turned to Prowl and knew what his friend had in mind. "And I assume that _you_ want to take your crew out there?"

Prowl smiled back at Leo and nodded. "I thought you'd never ask," he said. He turned to walk out of the bridge and activated his communicator in his forearm. It popped open and he saw Victory's face.

"What's up boss-bot?" Victory said with a smile.

Prowl nodded and opened the elevator door. "Get the crew together now," he said rigorously. "We've got an issue that needs attention!"

* * *

Antagony turned to Kross and shook her head. From the moment that she heard about Kross's plan she believed that it would not be as smooth as he predicted. She stood up and looked at Kross with intensity. "What now?" she asked. 

Kross leaned forward in his chair and slammed his fist on the arm. He glared over at Fearswoop with his single optic with a look that would have many Predacons terrified. "Are the coordinates entered into the navi-computer?" he yelled.

Fearswoop nodded as he turned to face the consol. He brought up an image of the intended trajectory and verified the coordinates. "Yes sir," he said. "All information indicates that. . ."

"Then the hell with them!" Kross shouted. "Activate transwarp driver!" He glanced over at Antagony and pointed to her. "If the Maximals so much as move a micron, launch all offensive weaponry!"

Antagony smiled at her leader's command. Although she had very little respect for his authority, she did enjoy the fact that he had little hesitation when it came to conflicts with the Maximals.

* * *

Scout looked up at Leo with a blank look in his optics. "They've activated their transwarp drivers!" he shouted. "Coordinates indicate that they are _not_ headed toward New Lithone!" 

Leo turned around and ran to Scout. He squatted down and looked at the information on the monitor. Unable to decipher the data, he turned to Scout for assistance. "What the hell does it say?" he asked frantically.

Scout read the information and his mouth opened. He looked at the image of the ship as it prepare to enter transwarp displacement. "They're headed for the Sol System, sir." he said softly.

Leo looked up at the image on the large monitor and shook his head wondering how anybody outside of the data processors were able to get their hands on that kind of restricted information.

Suddenly, a blue ring appeared directly in front of the ship. The shuttle entered the ring and it snapped shut. Leo looked over at Scout and rubbed the top of his head. "We've got a problem kid," he said softly.

* * *

Showing frustration was not part of Prowl's personality, so to see him display it in any form was an oddity in and of itself. Prowl rubbed his hand after he hit the nearby wall and shook his head in disbelief. Swiftwing and Victory did not know what to do. 

"So now what?' Swiftwing asked. "If we follow them then we're in direct violation of the Prime Directive!"

Prowl nodded. He knew that an incident of this magnitude would have to be reported to the Council of Elders, but he also knew how they would handle this situation. He turned to Victory and rubbed his chin. "We're headed after them!" he said with strict authority.

Victory understood that Prowl went by the book on every occasion, and to have him stray from the Prime Directive meant that his leader understood that certain circumstances needed to be dealt with differently. Although he did not completely agree with Prowl, he knew better than to question him at this point in time.

Swiftwing looked at Prowl for a moment and shook his head. "Do you know what that means?" he asked realizing that Prowl knew all too well the ramifications of his actions.

Both Maximals ran down the hall to the bridge of the _Optimus I_. Once they arrived there, the door opened and they saw Orion Magnus and Liger awaiting their orders. Prowl looked into Liger's optics and spoke. "Set the transwarp field to the coordinates of the last transwarp jump!" he said loudly. "I don't care where they went to, just get it done!"

Liger ran to his station and saw the data from the last jump. He second guessed the coordinates, but confirmation came quickly from _Ark Haven_. He entered the data and looked back at Prowl. "She's all entered boss."

Prowl nodded in satisfaction. "Excellent," he said. He looked over at Orion Magnus who was awaiting his own orders. "Once we've entered transwarp displacement, I want you to monitor the field for any activity. Is that understood?"

Orion Magnus smiled and nodded his head. "Absolutely," he said.

Prowl walked over to his command chair and sat down. "And I want you to make sure that our path is scrambled!" He turned around and looked at Orion Magnus again. "Can you do that?" he asked.

Orion Magnus tilted his head for a moment and wondered why Prowl would want his path scrambled. However, Orion Magnus understood that something was wrong just by the way Prowl was acting, so he shook his head and ran to his station. "I'm on it!"

Prowl sat down and Swiftwing came over to him. "Shouldn't we at least contact the Council of Elders?" he asked. "If they. . ."

"If they find out then they'll send in their own operatives!" Prowl said sternly. He turned and looked at Swiftwing. "If this ship is full of Predacons, and if they are headed toward Earth, then do you really think Phoenix Prime will take care of the situation in a discrete manner?" Prowl shook his head at opened communication with the space station. "I can't take that chance!"

There was a crackle as the communication link with the _Ark Haven_ opened. Leo's face appeared on the monitor. "What's up?" he asked Prowl.

Prowl looked directly into Leo's optics and spoke. "I'm headed off after them!" Prowl looked over at Liger. "Get us off of here!"

Liger disengaged the magnetic locks for the docking system. The ship hummed with life as it became prepared for pursuit of the shuttle. He looked over at Prowl and nodded. "Ready!" he shouted.

Prowl looked back at Leo and leaned forward. "I'm asking you a favor," he said.

Leo shook his head and knew what was coming. "Let me guess," he responded. "You don't want me to inform the Elders."

Prowl smiled and nodded. "Thanks," he said. "I knew I could count on you."

The _Optimus I_ slowly pulled away from the docks of the _Ark Haven_. It made its way to the proper clearing and the transwarp driver was activated. A blue ring appeared in front of the ship and it slowly entered the circle. Once it was completely in the ring, the circle snapped shut and a white light briefly flashed indicating that the ship was successfully in transwarp displacement.

On the bridge of the _Ark Haven_, Leo rubbed his optics and shook his head. He walked over to Scout and placed his hands on the young Maximal's shoulders. "Can you cover this up?" he asked.

Scout smiled at his commanding officer and nodded. "Piece of cake," he said.

Leo nodded and leaned down on the side of Scout. "Good," he said. "This better work."


	3. Chapter 3

**Transformers:**

**Apocalypse Song**

_The rogue Predacon known as Kross has gained ancient information regarding the legendary planet called Earth. The Predacon general gathered his forces and began their voyage to the ancient planet in hopes of turning the tide of power back to the Predacons, but more importantly strictly to him. The Predacons made it to the proper launching coordinates and entered transwarp displacement, but the Maximals onboard the space station known as the Ark Haven discovered their plans to head toward the Sol System._

_Fearing the worst, Prowl headed after the rogue ship not knowing who or what was on it. He gathered his crew and left the Ark Haven on his own ship, the Optimus I. However, Prowl is taking an awful risk by entering the Sol System without consulting the proper authorities. Despite his by-the-book approach to life, Prowl understood the fact that should the Council of Elders discover that a rogue ship made its way to the Sol System, they would send their own agents after it, which is something that Prowl fears almost as much as Predacon control over the planet._

**Chapter Three:**

**Who We Are**

_You might as well face the fats now, Prowl_ the Maximal thought to himself. _There's no going back on this one!_

It was in Prowl's nature to second guess himself to make sure that he made the correct decision, at least the one that was the most logical. No matter how he played the situation out in his mind, Prowl still wondered if he had done what was best.

Prowl gave an uneasy smirk as he stood there and starred at the crew of the _Optimus I_. Prowl knew each member of his crew for a long time and did not want to place any of them in jeopardy no matter what, but he knew that this mission was going to be different than any that they had gone on before.

Prowl stood up straight in front of the bridge's monitor and nodded in a concerned manner at the gathered Maximals. "We're headed toward Earth," he said in a calm fashion. "I know that we are in direct violation of the Prime Directive of the Pax, but there really is no other means of solving this problem."

Orion Magnus rubbed the back of his neck and decided to speak, although he was unsure of what to say. "And why are we doing this?" he asked. "Shouldn't the Council take care of this situation?"

Prowl shook his head and looked into Orion Magnus's optics. "Not on your spark," he said. He turned to the monitor and brought up an image of the planet to which they were headed. "Imagine if that ship is full of Predacons, which is most likely the case. What would happen if the Council of Elders decided to send Phoenix Prime out here to take care of them?"

All of the Maximals looked at each other and understood what Prowl was saying. Swiftwing stepped forward and addressed the crowd as well. "If Phoenix Prime were to handle the situation at hand, then there would be more damage than there needs to be."

Prowl shook his head and looked back at the crew. "Right. We all know how he _loves_ his job, so we can't afford to let him do what he sees fit on Earth, especially in light of the Prime Directive." He took a step forward and looked at the crew with optimism. "We're on our own for this one," he said softly. "And we need to make sure that the nine billion humans don't get harmed in the process."

Liger rubbed his temple and smiled. "Nine billion?" he said. "That's an awful lot of humans to avoid!"

Prowl nodded at Liger's comment. "Indeed it is, but I'm hoping that we can go unnoticed during our campaign." Prowl turned to Orion Magnus and smiled. "Can it be done?" he asked the youngest Maximal.

Orion Magnus scratched his neck and thought for a moment. The technical officer ran a few scenarios in his mind, and then he thought of something. He looked over at Prowl and spoke. "Theoretically, yes," he said. "I'm sure that we can disguise our transwarp replacement, and the Maximal cloaking system on the ship is quite capable of masking our venture to the planet's surface."

Prowl smiled at Orion Magnus. "Great," he said. He looked at the crew and nodded at them. "Once we are replaced, I want to know their exact location."

Victory looked at Prowl with concern. "And what are we going to do once we get there?" he asked. "It's not like the humans are friendly to us anymore."

Prowl gave a smile and glanced at Victory. "I'm hoping that we can utilize one of our old facilities as a base of operations while we are on Earth. According to the Pax, they were to be deemed 'off limits' by any inhabitants of Earth until we returned at the designated time."

A red light blinked on the consol behind Orion Magnus. He turned around and sat in the seat and accessed the data that was being relayed. He looked over at Prowl and nodded at his commander. "They've exited transwarp displacement," he said calmly. "We'll be in their exact location in approximately three breems."

Prowl shook his head in frustration. He looked at the image of Earth and placed his hands on his hips. "Not good enough," he said as he intently glared at the monitor. He turned around and looked at Orion Magnus. "That gives them too much of a jump on us."

Liger walked over to Orion Magnus and activated the trajectory calculation program in the consol. He entered a few numbers and watched as the data was being analyzed. "What if we overshoot their exit point?"

Orion Magnus smiled and watched the calculations unfold on the consol's monitor. "We can exit transwarp displacement at this point," he said as he pointed at the monitor. He looked up at Liger and nodded at his friend's theory. "That would replace us, if the data is correct, almost exactly on top of them." He looked over at Prowl and stood up. "That's our best shot!"

Prowl smiled at the two members of his crew and walked over to the command chair. "Great!" he said with extreme enthusiasm. He looked over at Swiftwing with a large smile that showed how much he respected his crew. "Bring the forward ion batteries on-line!" He looked back at the monitor and nodded at the image of Earth. "Maybe we can end this slag before we get any closer to Earth!"

* * *

Kross laughed out loud at the image of Earth that was being displayed on all of the monitors across the bridge. He pointed at the image on the largest monitor in the front of the bridge and looked over at Downtrodden. "Did you ever see such a sight?" he asked boisterously. He laughed again and looked at the other images of the planet that surrounded the bridge. "Has anyone witnessed the true power of this mudball?" 

Downtrodden glanced over at Kross and smirked at him. He was unsure if his leader was angry or pleased with the current situation. "What do you mean by power, commander?" the loyal Predacon asked.

Kross walked up to the largest image and gently placed his hands on the monitor. "Power indeed, my dear Downtrodden." Kross turned around and looked at the rest of the Predacons. "We're about to shed our past and make this an orn of reckoning!"

Weasel stood up and nodded at his leader. "Absolutely!" he shouted. "No longer are we bound by those Maximal laws that imprison us to Cybertron!" Weasel looked over at Heatewave and Fearswoop who were sitting nervously in their chairs. "Only now will we have the true potential to bring our goals to fruition!"

As Weasel basked in the glory of his speech, there was a lone applause that slowly came from the back of the bridge. Weasel and Kross both looked over the command chair and realized who it was.

"Bravo!" Antagony exclaimed with a sarcastic smile on her face. "Truly impressive, to say the least. If the Art Guild ever saw that performance, Weasel, you surely would have a place in the Iacon Hall of Acoustics!"

Downtrodden snickered at Antagony's comment, which did not go unnoticed by Weasel. He walked over to Antagony and stood immediately in front of the female Predacon. "You dare question our leader's methods?" he said in a stubborn fashion. "If I were you I would. . ."

"Be kissing more tail end than anyone could ever imagine!" Antagony said as she interrupted Weasel. "The truth is that you have _no_ idea why Kross brought us here. You only want to suck up some more, despite your _ignorance_ to the _true_ reason why we've come here!"

Kross walked over to the two arguing Predacons and placed his hand on Weasel's shoulder. "She may be right, my dear Weasel," Kross said softly. He turned to Antagony and glared at her with his single optic. "Perhaps it is time that I reveal to you all why we are here!"

Kross walked over to his chair and pulled out the golden disk from his side. He inserted it into the driver and watched as the main monitor revealed another image of Earth.

"What's so special about that?" Antagony asked. "We've already seen Earth!"

Kross sat in his chair and ignored Antagony's spiteful comment. He leaned back and stared at the image. "Since the Earth year 1984, the Transformers have been linked to this organic planet, be it for better or worse. It harbored many Autobots and Decepticons up to the Great Apocolypse, during the Energon Crunch, and through the prosperous vorns of the Cybertronian Alliance, designed by the legendary Ultra Magnus in the absence of Optimus Prime." Kross looked over at Downtrodden and nodded at the Predacon. "However, things changed since the Dread War and with the cataclysm on Nebulos turning it into a wasteland."

Antagony stood up and walked over to Kross. She crossed her arms and gazed into the monitor which was now displaying an footage of the Dread War. "Is this history lesson necessary?" she asked.

Kross continued to watch the ancient footage of the Dread War that was thought to be lost through time. "Indeed it is, my dear Antagony." Kross slightly turned his head at Antagony. "If history is destined to repeat itself, then we must learn from it!"

Fearswoop turned in his chair and looked at Kross. "How is the Dread War going to help us?" he asked.

Kross blurted out in laughter for a brief moment. He regained his poise and calmed down. "We are not learning from the war that wiped out practically all of our species, Fearswoop. Instead, we are learning how to capitalize on the mistakes of our bastard ancestors!"

Downtrodden watched the final images of the footage fade away to reveal a battered Cybertron. "I beg your pardon, Kross, but I am confused."

Kross nodded at Downtrodden and stood up. "Indeed. As the war ended, the Autobots, in a desperate attempt for survival, decided that they would leave a small body of guardians behind to repair and repopulate Cybertron, thus the Maximals were born!" He turned to Heatwave and pointed at his chest. "Each one of you who was created after the Dread War was indeed a splinter of a spark, either from an Autobot or a Decepticon; they are technically your _parents_!"

Heatwave touched his chest and leaned back in his seat. "But I'm a Predacon," he said in his confused state. "I wasn't designed to be a Maximal."

"Quite the contrary!" Malpractice said as he entered the room. "Each one of you was a Maximal protoform just waiting for programming, but others saw differently!"

Kross chuckled to himself and gazed over at Malpractice. "Correct," he said. "Several members of the Decepticons who remained loyal to its _true _cause decided that the Autobots, or should I say Maximals, should not rule Cybertron. Protoforms were stolen from laboratories, reprogrammed and formatted to meet the needs of the children of the Decepticons, who called themselves the Predacons as an homage to Starscream's ancient splinter faction during the Dark Ages." He looked at Weasel and clenched his fists. "The original Predacons, some who are now members of the Tripredacus, blamed the Autobots and their 'children' for causing such a catastrophe with the war against the Dread!"

"Again, what does that have to do with us?" Antagony asked

Kross walked over to his chair and sat down again. "After the Dread War, the Pax was signed, which banned Transformers from Earth. The humans feared that their planet would suffer the same fate as Nebulos did during the war!" Suddenly, an image of a white city appeared on the screen. "In their haste, the Autobots left behind several facilities that have significant potential to those who know how to use them."

Weasel walked over to Kross and stood next to him. He watched as an image of a volcano appeared with a battle fortress around it. "And these are the facilities?" he asked as he pointed to the monitor.

"Yes," Kross said sternly. "The Autobots, my longtime foes, departed from Earth in such a hurry that they left behind great technology, along with a few other cherished prizes!" He stood up and looked at the crew. "If we can get to any of these locations, then we will have the power of turning the tide of command of Cybertron over to us!"

All of the Predacons, except for Malpractice, looked at each other in disbelief. None of them actually knew what was in store for them once they arrived on the planet's surface.

Suddenly, an alarm went off and the lights turned red. All of the Predacons went back to their stations frantically and adjusted their equipment. Kross sat down slowly and knew why the alarm was sounding.

"The Maximals," Kross said to himself.

* * *

The _Optimus I_ exited transwarp displacement with ease. It pivoted on its left side to adjust for the new trajectory and followed in the path of the Predacon ship that was directly in front of it. 

Prowl gazed at the monitor observantly as the image of the Predaocn ship appeared on it. He looked over at Victory and nodded at him. "See if they'll at least answer us," he said.

Victory shook his head at Prowl's command as he adjusted the frequency. He sent out a hailing message and waited for their reply.

* * *

Downtrodden turned to his commander with a look of distress in his optics. All Downtrodden ever wanted to do was to be thought of as loyal to his leader; he feared Kross's wrath should he ever fail or disappoint him. With all of the recent events, along with Weasel's conniving the past few orns, Downtrodden was unsure of his own safety. Nevertheless, Downtrodden got up the courage to inform his commander of the current situation. 

"The Maximals are hailing us," he said nervously. "They've entered standard space less than a few astro-yards away!"

Kross glanced over at Downtrodden and shook his head. "Indeed," he said. "Put them on the screen! Let them know who is the barer of their undoing!"

On the bridge's large screen monitor, the Maximal symbol appeared. Then, suddenly, the image of Prowl appeared on it. Kross let out a loud burst of laughter as he saw who was commanding the Maximal ship.

"Oh, this is too much!" he said between his laughter. "This is far too much!"

Prowl gained his composure and peered at Kross with a strict look in his optics. "This is Prowl, commander of the _Optimus I_ of the Maximal Interstellar Armada. You are in direct violation of the Cybertronia Pax, and you are all hereby placed under arrest."

Kross bent over in his chair as he continued to laugh. All of the Predacons began to question Kross's methods. Finally, Kross looked up at the monitor and nodded at Prowl. "You're kidding, right?" he said jokingly. "This is what the Maximal Elders sent?" He looked over at Downtrodden and nodded at his loyal follower. "At this rate we'll conquer the entire planet and wipe out these fools before the orn is finished!"

Prowl continued to glare at Kross. "Do not make me use force," he said.

Kross shook his head at Prowl and looked at his image. "You don't fool me, Autobot!" Kross exclaimed as his laughter stopped abruptly. "You, of all Maximals, must realize what is at stake here!" Prowl did not move at Kross's comment, so Kross continued. "I have every intention of taking what is rightfully mine!"

Prowl grinned at Kross's comments. "Nothing on Earth is yours!" he said loudly. "What was left there belongs to the Autobots when they return!"

"If they return!" Weasel added.

Kross looked over at Weasel and clenched his fists. "Shut up!" he yelled. He turned back to Prowl and shook his head at the Maximal. "The Decepticons left just as much behind as the Autobots did, and not by our choice, if I recall!"

Prowl smiled back at Kross. "The Decepticons left it by choice, but if _I_ recall correctly, you weren't a Decepticon, were you?"

The Predacons on the ship became confused at the argument. Heatewave stood up and walked over to Fearswoop. He leaned down and whispered into his audio receptor. "What the slag are they yammering on about?" he asked.

Fearswoop shrugged his shoulders at his friend's question. "I have no clue."

Kross looked at Prowl with an intense anger that would have burned a hole through the monitor. "My loyalty goes unquestioned, Autobot!" He raised his arms to the ceiling and continued to glare at Prowl. "It is past time that I reclaim what is rightfully mine through heritage!" He brought his arms to his side and turned to Downtrodden. "End transmission!" he shouted.

Downtrodden cut the link with the Maximal ship and looked back at Kross. "Communication has been severed, sir," he said.

Kross sat in his seat and clutched the arms of it in frustration. _How dare that Maximal dog question my loyalty_ he thought to himself. He looked over at Heatwave and pointed to the screen. "Full thrusters!" he shouted. " Head for my exact coordinates now!"

Heatwave nodded and complied with his commander's orders. He adjusted the trajectory to head for the imputed data coordinates and activated the main booster. The Predacons were headed directly toward Earth.

* * *

"Damn it!" Prowl yelled as he punched the wall next to the monitor. He turned around and looked over at Victory. "Send a warning shot across the bow of their ship!" 

"NO!" Orion Magnus yelled. He ran over to Prowl and grabbed the railing that stood between the two Maximals. "If you do that then the Earthlings will know that we've arrived!"

Victory took his hands off of the targeting consol immediately and faced Prowl. "Now what?" he asked. "Kross is headed toward Earth."

Prowl clenched his fists as he saw the image of the Predacon ship make its way toward Earth. "Slag!" he shouted. He turned to Swiftwing and shook his head. "Follow that ship," he said. "I want you to calculate their exact projected destination."

Swiftwing began running the tracking program which would enable the _Optimus__I_ to follow the exact trail of the Predacon ship.

Liger began running an active scan of the planet as he calculated their destination. As information regarding the composition of the planet came across his monitor, there was a piece of intelligence that did not sit well with the resident Maximal science officer. He looked up at Prowl with a concerned look in his blue optics. "How many humans did you say populated the planet?"

Prowl looked over at Liger with a look of concern. There was something about the question that startled Prowl. "The last time that the Autobots were on Earth, I'd say that it had a population of approximately nine billion humans. Why?"

Liger shook his head and touched his chin. "Well, from the looks of it, the entire planet has a population of half a billion!"

Prowl stood up and walked over to Liger. He leaned down to get a closer look at the scanning data. "How the slag can that be?" he asked. "Are there any signs of a natural disaster or anything else?"

"Negative," Liger replied. "Outside of the standard geological movement for an organic planet such as this, I'd say that everything is normal." He looked over the information again to make sure that he was reading it right. "There has been no large scale disasters that would indicate a mass decrease in population."

Swiftwing placed the ship on autopilot and walked over to the two Maximals. "Then what the hell happened there?" he asked.

Prowl looked up at Swiftwing and gazed into his friend's optics. "I don't know?" He looked at Liger and shrugged his shoulders. "What the hell could cause eight and a half billion people to disappear from the planet in about five hundred Earth years?"

Liger shook his head again as he was unable to answer the question. "This planet is basically healthy. I'm not picking up any type of ecological, bacterial, biochemical, or viral agents in the atmosphere that would indicate a cataclysm of this magnitude." He looked into Prowl's optics with deep concern. "I can't even locate mass decay zones that would lead me to believe that they buried large amounts of bodies." He looked at the image of Earth on the screen in front of him and became perplexed. "They've just vanished."

Prowl shook his head in disbelief and walked over to his chair. He sat in it and gazed at the Predacon ship that was now passing by the Earth's lone moon. "I don't care how many people are on that planet," he said firmly. "I won't let any of them be harmed by Kross or the Predacons!"

* * *

Kross glanced over at Fearswoop as he heard the information that was delivered by the Predacon. "Excellent!" Kross exclaimed. "With only that many humans left on this planet we shouldn't run into too many problems while we go about our business." 

Heatwave turned in his chair and looked at Kross. "The Maximals are still in pursuit, Kross," he said. "Should I engage countermeasures to elude them?"

Kross stared at the monitor that showed Earth in its entirety. "Don't bother," he said. "Let the Maximals follow us into hell for all I care!" He stood up and looked over at Malpractice who was leaning on the banister. "I believe that you have some issues to attend to now."

Malpractice gazed back with his black optics and nodded at Kross. He turned around and made his way to th elevator shaft. He opened the door and entered the elevator. Just as the doors were about to close, Malpractice held out his hand and stopped them. "Remember, no matter what happens, our best chance lies in the Pacific waters." He brought back his hand and the doors shut.

Kross nodded at Malpractice's comment and turned toward the monitor. He sat down in his chair and brought up a picture of the location in which he wanted to land. He scanned the image of North America closely and finally spotted what he was looking for.

"There!" he shouted. "It's still there!" He looked over at Downtrodden and pointed toward the image of a white city on the screen. "How long until we get there?" he asked.

Downtrodden turned to face his leader. "Less than two breems, sir," he replied.

Kross gazed at the image on the screen and clenched the arms of his chair. "Weasel, Heatwave, Antagony, Fearswoop!" He turned around and looked at the Predacons. "Once we get close enough, I want you to go out and create interference with the Maximals, that way Downtrodden and I can reach the main hanger bay area. Is that understood?"

All of the Predacons nodded in acceptance of Kross's orders. Weasel and the rest of the Predacons headed toward the loading bay of the ship where they would leap from in order to stop the Maximals.

Kross looked over at Downtrodden and walked over to him. "Once they have the Maximals occupied, we will enter the city and you will behold a power greater than you could possibly imagine!"

* * *

Swiftwing clenched his consol to make sure that he was reading the data correctly. He then stood up and looked over at Prowl. He was unsure of how to tell his commanding officer the distressing news that he had discovered. "Guess where Kross is headed?" he asked Prowl. 

Prowl squinted at the image of the Predacon ship entering Earth's atmosphere and shrugged his shoulders. "There could be about one hundred places." He pause for a moment and blurted out the first place that came to his mind. "The _Argonaut _in Japan?" he said.

Swiftwing shook his head at Prowl. "No," he said softly. "They're headed toward the United States."

Prowl's optics widened as he thought of the two places that Kross could be headed. He knew that one of them was the _Ark_, but Kross did not have the capability to bypass the Autobot security system that had been placed there after they had left. That left only one more location that Prowl could think of. "Metroplex!" he said.

"Jackpot!" Swiftwing yelled. "If those wrecks get there first, then we're in for a world of trouble."

Prowl looked back at Liger, Orion Magnus and Victory. "We can't let the Predacons enter the complex!" he said sternly as he walked to the back of the bridge. He opened the door to the hallway that extended the length of the ship. He held the door open and stared down the hall. "No matter what happens, we can not let the Predacons get into Metroplex, or else we've already let them win!" He turned his head slightly and caught a glimpse of Swiftwing out of the corner of his optic. "You have control of the ship, Swift," he said. "The rest of us are heading for the entranceway!"

Prowl walked out of the bridge and the rest of the Maximals followed. Swiftwing turned around in his chair and saw the vastness of what was once the bustling Autobot city known as Metroplex. He followed the Predacon ship as closely as he could without crashing into it, and that's when he saw several Predacons drop out from under the belly of the ship.

"Shit!' Swiftwing yelled to himself realizing that the Predacons were making a dash for the core of the city.


	4. Chapter 4

**Transformers:**

**Apocalypse Song**

_In an attempt to regain Autobot and Decepticon technology that was thought to be lost through time and the Dread War, Kross has made his way to the forbidden plant of Earth. There, the rogue Predacon hopes to locate several sources of vast power that was left behind by the Autobots when they evacuated the planet shortly after the signing of the Cybertronia Pax. The first location that Kross has targeted is the ancient Autobot city of Metroplex. Fearing that the Predacons may revive the massive city, Prowl has followed Kross to Metroplex and hopes to thwart his efforts to gain the city for his own purposes._

_However, something is not right about the planet. When the Transformers were last on Earth, the population was reaching nine billion humans, but now Liger has discovered that the planet has a population of only half a billion. Although this seems to be a mystery, especially to Prowl and Swiftwing who were on Earth at one point in their lives, the Maximals must place the vanishing of the Earth's population on hold why they try and keep Kross from reaching his goal!_

**Chapter Four:**

**The War Anew**

_New Lithone_

Harp stood on the observation deck of the Maximal space station that orbited New Lithone and gazed out into the vastness of space. She placed one arm across her abdomen and rubbed her chin with her other hand as her optics scanned the immediate vicinity for any sign of the Maximal ship known as the _Optimus I_.

Frustrated, she turned to her partner and looked up into his yellow optics. "Something doesn't smell right, Crush," she said.

The large green and yellow Maximal nodded at his commanding officer in agreement with her statement. He then looked out into space and glanced down at the planet. "I'd have to say that you're probably right on that, Harp." He tapped his finger on the thick glass and looked over to the leader of his unit. "If you want my opinion, I think that we've got a problem brewing."

Harp tilted her head to her right and smiled at Crush's statement. "You don't have to say it, Crush," she said as she turned her attention to the traffic of shuttles making their way between the planet and its two moons. She watched as the cargo ships transported energon and other goods to and from New Lithone and its newly creted moons."I just want to know where the _hell _those two ships could have vanished to." She turned around and looked at Crush. "Outside of us, there hasn't been any Maximal activity on New Lithone in over _three _orns." She began walking to the other side of the deck and glanced to the elevator shaft. "So where did they go?"

Crush turned his attention to the elevator. He smiled pleasantly as he saw three Lithonian sparkling-mechs run out of the elevator and press their delicate faces against the procetcive glass. Crush waived to the two other mechs that followed the small sparklings. "Beautiful view we have today," he said.

The two mechs smiled back at Crush and nodded at the Maximal. Then, as they approached the sparklings, they saw the black Maximal symbol on his massive chest. They then quickly made their way over to the three sparkling-mechs. They grabbed the two child-like mechs by their shoulders and hurried them to the opposite side of the observation deck. "We're extremely sorry," the taller mech stated as they walked away. Obviously nervous about the appearance of two maximals operatives, he opened up the door and allowed the sparklings to exit the room first. "We'll leave you to your business."

Crush shook his head at them and walked over to Harp. "Now tell me you didn't see that," he started. "The Maximals have been getting a bad name for quite some time now, and we're supposed to be the ones protecting them." Frustrated, he clenched his fists and looked at the polished floor. "It makes me sick to think that we're beeing looked at with fear."

Harp shook her head and looked over at Crush. She then walked over to the large Maximal and grabbed his right hand with both of hers. She rubbed the top of his fist and he then turned to look into her blue optics.

"Things have changed, haven't they?" Harp asked. "I'm not sure if they have done so for the better." She let go of Crush's hand and took out her communicator from her side. She opened it up and the Maximal symbol appeared on it. "Do you read me, Kom-Batt?" she said into the lower portion of the device.

A deep blue Maximal appeared on the screen and smiled at Harp. "Gotcha boss," the Maximal known as Kom-Batt said. "Did you find anything there?"

Harp shook her head at his question. "Not a damn thing," she said with frustration. "I've got a feeling that they never were headed here in the first place." She looked over at Crush who was staring at some other Lithonian civilians on the other end of the observation deck. "Tell Grout and Aquafrost that we're headed back to Cybertron immediately." She looked back at the image of the Maximal on the communicator's screen. "The Council isn't going to be too happy with this news."

* * *

Fearswoop turned himself over in mid-air as he began to transform. Once he was completely in his alternative mode, the Predacon ignited his rear thrusters and sent the single wing mini-jet soaring into the clouds. He began to laugh to himself as he brought his weapon systems on-line. He then took a sharp turn to his left and began his decent down to one of his intended targets. 

"Come out, come out, where ever you are," he said to himself as he scanned for Maximal signatures. Suddenly, Fearswoop spotted several Maximals dropping from the bottom of the _Optimus I_. Realizing that the Maximals were vulnerable without the protection of the ship, he streaked downward and headed toward the nearest Maximal that he scanned.

The Maximal known as Vistory landed on the ground and pulled his E.M.P. rifle from his back holster. He then looked up and activated his long-range scanner within his optics. A green visor slid over his optics and he spotted Fearswoop headed in his direction. The visor retracted and Victory lifted the rifle up to target the approaching Predacon.

Suddenly, a burst of machine-gun fire came from underneath Fearswoop which sent Victory running across the deck of the massive city. The Maximal hid behind the corner of a nearby hanger and ducked as the bullets showered down upon the building and the ground, sending up shards of debris around Victory.

Fearswoop zipped by the Maximal and Victory took aim at the Predacon yet again. He smiled to himself as Fearswoop entered the rifle's cross hairs. "See ya, sucka!" he yelled as he pulled the trigger.

A white ball of energy streaked across the sky and clipped the unsuspecting Fearswoop right on his wing. The Predacon screamed in pain as he went falling to the deck of Metroplex. He tried relentlessly to pull up, but without any power flowing to his navigational systems, he crashed onto the deck of the city. Fearswoop struggled to transform as he lay there in agony, but he managed to do so. He spotted Victory running in his direction and he pulled his own weapon from his hip. He fired of two rounds which sent Victory scurrying for cover.

* * *

Weasel landed on his hands and knees. The jolt from the landing rattled his joints somewhat, and he looked for any signs of Maximals. Then, Weasel spotted something even better. The Predacon found an abandoned hanger bay and began running toward it. He kept looking over his shoulders to make sure that he was not spotted. Once he reached the complex, he ducked inside and peered around to make sure that nobody, Maximal or Predacon, saw him. He ducked down and pulled out his sidearm. His hand shook with an intense nervousness as he sat there. He placed his other hand on his forearm in an attempt to calm himself down, but he knew deep down inside of his spark that he was molre afraid than he possibly could imagine. 

_Please don't let me die. Please don't let me die. Please don't let me die. Please don't let me die._

_

* * *

_

Swiftwing landed the _Optimus I_ at the edge of the runway right before the Predacons had landed. He sprang from his seat, grabbed his side arm that was magnetized to his left leg, and ran for the exit. He slapped a fresh energon clip into it weapon and shoved open the exit door of the shuttle. The bright sun was setting over the mountain, causing Swiftwing to hold up his left arm to shield his optics from the glare that it had created. He turned his head module toward the Predacon ship and saw both Kross and Downtrodden running down the ramp of the shuttle. He then jumped down and took aim at the two Predacons.

As teh two Predacons reached the end of the ramp, Downtrodden spotted Swiftwing pointing his weapon at Kross. He then jumped on his leader's back and forced him to the ground, causing the twomechs to topple over each other. Just then, three red plasma blasts skimmed over the two Predacons. Kross heaved Downtrodden off of his frame and rolled over onto his back. He opened up his compartment embedded within his left leg and pulled out his own weapon.

"Thank you, my dear Downtrtodden," Kross said as he took aim at Swiftwing. "Let's deal with our little hero here first before we attend to our business!"

Kross fired off several shots at the Maximal, but they missed him completely. Swiftwing smiled at his good fortune and began firing at the two Predacons. "Looks as if your aim hasn't improved after all of these vorns, Kross!" Swiftwing yelled.

Kross sprang to his feet and grunted at Swiftwing's comment. "Damn Maximal dog!" he yelled. "I'll recycle you yet!" He brought himself to a standing position and began charging toward the Maximal with his weapon firing. "Die, damn it! Die!"

Swiftwing ducked behind the landing gear of the _Optimus I_ and avoided being clipped by Kross's stream of gunfire. He crouched down and peered around the other side of the bulky gear. Swiftwing spotted Downtrodden making his way to the entrance to the city, so he turned his attention to him. Swiftwing squinted and intently focused on Downtrodden, taking aim at his legs. Once he got a positive lock on the Predacon Swiftwing fired at the mech.

The shot caught Downtrodden in the knee and sent the Predacon tumbling over himself. The Predacon slammed his face on the surface of Metroplex and grunted as he heard his jaw crack. Over by the Predacon shuttle, Kross heard the thud of Downtrodded hitting the surface. He turned his head and saw his loyal follower crouched over in pain. He then spotted Swiftwing running to the cover of another landing gear and opened fire on him.

The Maximal saw Kross and managed to get off three more rounds aimed at him, which sent Kross hiding for cover. The Maximal checked the gauge on his clip and jumped out from behind the landing gear. Swiftwing then shot at Kross twice, hitting the gear that the Predacon was hiding behind.

Seeing that he had the Predacon cornered, Swiftwing looked behind him and saw the entrance to the city. The Maximal then shot at Kross again and began sprinting toward the door. Suddenly, Swiftwing was tackled by the massive Predacon known as Malpractice.

The two Transformers tumbled for a moment, and Swiftwing managed to break free. He looked at Malpractice for a moment, and then he spotted his weapon just out of arm's reach. He lunged forward toward it, but it exploded into several large fragments just as he was about to reach it. The Maximal looked over and saw that Kross was taking aim at him.

Swiftwing then rolled to his left and avoided being shot by Kross. He then ducked behind a wall to the hanger and reached for two E.M.P. grenades in his side compartment. He pushed a red button on the top of them, and they lit up with a blue light. Swiftwing smiled to himself and lept out from behind the cover.

"Choke on this!" he yelled. He threw the first grenade at Malpractice who was still getting up. The Predacon saw the incoming projectile and jumped as far away from the grenade as possible. Once it hit the ground, a blinding white flash appeared and blue electricity crackled all around.

Kross saw the other grenade heading for him and he ran for cover. The E.M.P. blast caught Kross in the leg and he fell flat on his face as he felt his entire left leg shut down. He attempted to stand up, but he fell down again. He propped himself up on one leg and began to head straight for the doorway.

"Damn you!" he shouted as he loaded another energon clip into his weapon. "You'll pay dearly for this, Maximal!"

Swiftwing smiled as he ran toward Kross. "Oh, I'm sure I will!" he said as he squared his shoulders and broadsided the Predacon. Kross went flying to his side and rolled over onto his back. He lost the weapon which went sailing across the highly polished deck of the city.

Realizing that this was his best chance, Swiftwing ran to the entrance of the city. Once he reached the massive door, he pulled on the large handle and managed to open the door just enough for him to get through. He then pulled the door shut and began running down the hall to the nearest control consol in order to gain access to the city's mainframe.

Disgusted with the situation, Kross turned and saw Malpractice running toward him. Malpractice offered to help him, but Kross brushed him away. He propped himself up to a standing position and pointed to the door that Swiftwing had entered.

"That damn Autobot reboot has made it inside the city's workings!" he shouted. "We have to stop him before he sends our plans to the slag-heap!"

* * *

Antagony landed on her feet with both grace and ease. She glanced over her shoulder and spotted two other Maximals approaching her from the south end of the deck of Metroplex. She turned around and sneered at the two approaching Maximals. 

The grin on Antagony's face made Liger shudder. He turned to Orion Magnus and looked at the young Maximal. "Be careful of this one, Magnus!" he shouted. "She's one grade-A bitchmaster!"

Orion Magnus smiled at his partner. "Gotcha, Liger!" he yelled. "Let's take her out together!"

The two Maximals transformed into their alternate modes. Liger's wolf mode made a dash straight toward Antagony, while Orion Magnus, in his grizzly-bear mode, stormed off in the same direction as well.

Antagony began to laugh at the two Maximals and their strategy. "Pathetic!" she shouted to them. She then placed her hands close together and white electricity began to spark out from her fingertips. She slowly pulled her hands apart from each other, and the energy began to coalesce in a pulsing, blue ball. The ball of blue energy began to grow rapidly, and then she braced herself on her feet by shifting her balance. She then spotted the two Maximals and giggled. "See you in hell!" she shouted as she pushed the blue ball toward the Maximals with her arms.

Liger and Orion Magnus spotted the energy ball and attempted to doge it. Quickly, Liger leapt to his left and avoided the initial explosion that the impact created. However, the blast caught Orion Magnus and it sent him sliding across the deck of the city and into a wall. Liger opened up a compartment on his shoulder and out popped three gun barrels. The Maximals brought his shoulder-gun on-line and aimed it at Antagony. He shot several times in order to clip the Predacon, but he did not seem to hit her.

The female Predacon jumped up and held out her hand at Liger. Streaks of white electricity shot out from her fingers and nearly caught Liger. The ground in front of the Maximal was a charred black and smelled of ozone as it crackled from the electric shot.

"Foolish Maximal!" Antagony yelled to Liger as she landed on her feet. "You have no idea who you are dealing with!" She turned her attention to Orion Magnus who was pushing himself off of the ground. She pointed both hands at him and shot another stream of electricity at the Maximal.

The electric wave caught Orion Magnus and he writhed in pain as the electricity surged through his body. The young Maximal doubled over in extreme pain and attempted to look for Liger. The mechanical bear let out a deafening roar as Orion Magnus rolled onto his back.

Enthralled by her handiwork, Antagony did not notice that Liger was headed toward her from behind. The Maximal wolf jumped up and pounced on her back, digging his front clws into her shoulders. The two Transformers threw up waves of orange sparks as they slid along the surface of the white deck while Liger transformed.

Once the two Transformers stopped sliding, Liger grabbed Antagony by the back of her head and shoved it into the deck with a loud thud. The resulting impact left a dent in the surface of the city.

Completely enraged, Antagony elbowed Liger in his throat and sent him falling backward. She then turned around and kicked him in the abdomen. The Predacon stood up and gazed down at Liger. "Foolish whelp!" she yelled. "You shall pay for soiling me with your stench!"

Just then, Antagony was brushed aside by a large paw. Orion Magnus snarled at her in his bear mode and positioned himself in front of Liger in order to protect him.

Antagony smiled at the sight of the ferocious Maximal who was being protective os his friend. She realized that even as damaged as he was, Orion Magnus was still a difficult Maximal to take off-line. "How heroic," she said slyly. "I'm impressed, but not as impressed as I should be."

Orion Magnus growled again at Antagony and glared at her red optics as he understood the underlining meaning of her statement. "You'd be surprised at quite a bit, witch!"

Antagony stood up and curtsied at Orion Magnus. She then smiled and tiled her head at the Maximal. "I'll let you deal with your friend while I make my way inside!" The Predacon then began to transform into her hover-car mode. She then sped off for the main access door that Swiftwing had already entered.

Orion Magnus transformed and turned to his friend. He helped Liger stand up and braced him on his shoulder. "You okay, Liger?" Orion Magnus asked his friend.

Liger shook his head at Orion Magnus. "I'll be fine," he said sharply. "It's that Predacon bitch that's headed toward the entrance that I'm worried about!"

* * *

Prowl punched Heatwave in the face and it sent the Predacon falling backwards. He then turned his head and spotted Antagony making her way to the entrance where Swiftwing entered. Prowl began running toward the doorway as well and opened his communication link with Swiftwing. 

"What's the deal there, Swift?" Prowl asked.

There was no reply from Swiftwing. Prowl transformed into his owl mode and flew in the direction of the door. There he saw Malpractice already at work on opening the door.

The thick door exploded and Malpractice ducked to avoid being hit by any debris from it. The Predacon grabbed the huge door and ripped the remains of it off of its hinges. The door landed on the ground with a loud thud, and Malpractice glared into the hallway. He scanned for Swiftwing, but he could not find the Maximal's signature. He turned around and saw Prowl approaching, so he quickly ducked inside the door, transformed, and sped off down the hall in search of a command consol.

* * *

Swiftwing reached the end of the hallway and paused for a moment to listen. He could hear the engine of an approaching Predacon, so he began running down the left hallway. He brought his forearm close to his face and opened the mini-computer inside of it. He punched in a few numbers and the screen displayed a map of the complex. 

Swiftwing looked up and realized that he was approaching the location that he was looking for. He stopped as he saw the door to the command center that would give him at least partial access to the city's mainframe. He pushed the door open, and then he ducked inside of the room. In his haste, he forgot to close the door behind him.

The Maximal ran to the far end of the room where he saw a computer consol. Swiftwing jumped on the hulking seat and took a small wire from out of his wrist. He looked all over, but he realized that he did not have a port to hack into. He became nervous as he heard Malpractice approaching, and that's when it hit him.

"Damn!" he said out loud. He jumped off of the chair and ripped open the metal covering to the computer consol. He activated the laser scalpel in his index finger and sliced open several wires. He then pulled the wire from his wrist again and spliced into the original wiring. The computer on his forearm lit up as it began negotiating with the host computer.

Suddenly, Swiftwing felt a tug at his leg. He looked behind him and saw Malpractice pulling on his lower body. He lifted his leg up and kicked the Predacon in his face. Malpractice fell backward and stumbled over some large equipment.

Swiftwing looked back at his mini-computer and saw that the negotiating was complete. He then began to upload the Maximal signature to the city's mainframe to activate Metroplex's defensive mechanisms. The Maximal smiled, unplugged hiself from the computer, and wiggled out from under the computer. He looked around as the city began to come back on-line.

"You'r too late, Malpractice," Swiftwing boasted. "Metroplex has been inputted with Maximal signatures, so I'd get running if I were you!"

* * *

All of the radars across the massive city known as Metroplex began to hum with life. As a testament to their sheer magnitude of power, all of the radars pointed into the sky in the direction of the setting sun. Suddenly, each radar began to glow a bright white as the hum became louder. Then, without warning, every radar fired off in unison creating one large beam of solid white light. 

The light streaked off over the horizon and headed into the sky. Finally, the light hit a small satellite in Earth's orbit and the beam was broken into two seperate streams which headed off into different directions.

Every Transformer on the complex grabbed their audio receptors in agony and fell to the ground in complete pain. Prowl fell to the esurface of the city as he was overcome by the piercing sound while Antagony slammed off the deck of Metroplex as well. She then swerved haphazardly and crached into a small wall. Malpractice doubled over and clenched his head modlue as he traied to crawl out of the room. Swiftwing looked up at the monitor and saw that the beam had cleared the mountain range and headed to space.

Finally, the high-pitched sound stopped. Swiftwing skook his head and then jumped onto the chair again to activate the defensive programs. He pulled up the Predacon signatures that were spread across the deck of Metroplex and brought several weapons on-line.

Antagony transformed back into her robot mode and shook her head as she attempted to gain her bearings. She then spotted Prowl in a tangled mess as a result of him falling from the sky. She smiled to herself as she saw the opportunity to kill the vulnerable Maximal.

Suddenly, she heard a mechanical hum from behind her. She turned around and saw two of the hulking gun turrets pointed down at her. The massive barrels gleamed in the fading sunlight and she began to back away from them.

"PREDACON SIGNATURE DETECTED," the street's audio equipment stated in a monotone voice. "INITIATING DEFENSIVE PROTOCOLS. INTRUDERS ARE TARGETED FOR EXTERMINATION."

Several other gun turrets began to move in the direction of each of the Predacons. Antagony transformed into her alternate mode and took off for the Predacon ship.

"The hell with this scrap!" she yelled. "Let's get out of here!"

The other Predacons scattered across the city began to make their way to the Predacon ship. Heatwave started running and spotted Weasel coming out from the empty hanger. "Where the slag were you?" Heatwave asked Weasel.

The cowardly Predacon turned to Heatwave and pointed toward the ship. "Do you really want to discuss that now, or would you rather live to see another orn?"

Both Predacons continued their dash for the ship.

Downtrodden hobbled over to Kross and helped his leader to his feet. "We must leave here now," Downtrodden stated. "The Maximals have beaten us."

Kross shoved Downtrodden away and began hopping to the ship. "They've only take one prize, you fool!" Kross shouted. He watched as the rest of the Predacons entered the ship. He turned around and saw Malpractice running from out of the damaged door. "Idiot!" he yelled at the running Predacon.

Fearswoop landed by the entrance ramp and helped Downtrodden up to the ship. Weasel ran behind them and made his way to the pilot's chair. He brought the ship's anti-gravity propulsion on-line and the ship lifted slightly off of the ground. He retracted the landing gear and looked all around him.

"Are we all on?" he asked.

Kross slammed his fist into the wall and pointed at the image of the city on the monitor. "Damn this Autobot technology!" he screamed.

Malpractice helped Kross to his chair and sat him in it. "Yes," he said to Kross. "Perhaps it is time that we looked at my methods?"

Kross looked over at Weasel and pointed at him. "Get us out of here now!" he shouted.

The Predacon ship lifted off of the ground and streaked across the deck of the city. It then lifted up into the air and shot across the hazy sky and into the horizon.

* * *

All of the Maximals gathered in the control room where Swiftwing managed to hack into Metroplex. Prowl looked over at his friend and smiled at him. "Good timing, Swift," Prowl said. "Another astrosecond and we might have had some difficulty dealing with the Preds." 

Swiftwing glanced over at Prowl and smiled back at him. "It was nothing, I suppose," he said with a grin. He walked over to Prowl and placed his hand on his shoulder. "It looks like the Predacons managed to scram, though."

Prowl turned and looked at his crew of gathered Maximals. He placed his hands on his hips and looked at each one of them in the optics as he began to speak. "We're in this for the long haul," he said. "The Predacons managed to escape, and that leaves us in charge of making sure that they do not do anything to the planet or its inhabitants." He looked over at Swiftwing and nodded in his direction. "This is going to be home for a while."

Orion Magnus looked up at his leader and stepped forward before he spoke. "What are we going to do about the Council of Elders?" he asked. "It's not like they'll want us here."

Prowl shook his head at the Maximal's question. "The truth is, Magnus, that they don't know that we're here, and I'd like to keep it that way for a while." He gazed out of the window and formed a small smile in the corner of his mouth. "Perhaps it's best that they _don't_ know, and maybe it is for the best that we _are_ here."

All of the Maximals gathered around the window that Prowl was staring out of to see the sight of the setting sun. The red haze began to radiate in the sky, and the highly polished deck of Metroplex began to give off a light crimson glow.

* * *

_New Detroit_

The young radar officer jumped to his feet and grabbed the sheet of paper that he printed off of his computer. He glanced at the print-out of the information just to double check what he had read. He then looked up and began running straight down the hallway toward the general's office.

He shoved several clerks aside as he hurried down the hall toward his destination. He accidentally knocked over the lunch boy who was bringing around bottles of water to several of the other radar officers who were stationed at the base today.

Finally, he reached the end of the hall and spotted his commanding officer. He immediately snapped to attention in front of his superior.

The commander smiled at the young officer and saluted him. "At ease, soldier," the commander said. "What's the rush?"

The young officer took the piece of paper and handed it to the commander. "Sir," he began. "Comm-sat indicates increased activity in the Southern quadrant of Oregon." he pointed to some of the other readings on the paper. "The majority of the activity originated in the Restricted Zone, Commander Waignright."

The commander glanced over the information and began to realize just what he was holding. "Are you sure of this, soldier?" he asked the officer. "I'd hate to throw the military into a panic."

The young soldier snapped to attention again and looked into Commander Waignright's eyes. "Absolutely, sir," he said. "The information was relayed to Neo Tokyo the Miami Collective, as per confirmation order seven-three-seven." He looked at the paper again. "As the bottom of the paper suggests, the activity emanates from the Autobot city known as Metroplex."

The commander closed his eyes, rubbed their corners, and shook his head. "Have the meg-res imaging satellite maneuvered so it orbits above the Restricted Zone." He looked at the officer and squinted a bit at him. "I'll relay this information to the general immediately."

The young soldier stayed at attention. "Permission to speak freely, sir?"

The commander nodded. "Proceed."

The young officer looked directly into the commander's eyes. "What are we going to do if this is Transformer activity without prior authorization?"

The commander looked at the officer with an uneasy look. "I don't know, son. I just don't know."


	5. Chapter 5

**Transformers: **

**Apocalypse Song**

_Prowl and his group of Maximals have thwarted Kross and the Predacons from taking control of the abandoned Autobot city known as Metroplex. However, during the altercation between the two factions, a mysterious white beam resonated from the multiple antenna arrays that spread across the vast city and was sent directly into space. There it was redirected into two different directions by an unknown satellite, and then it immediately stopped. _

_Fully aware of the abundance of Transformer technology that was abandoned on Earth, the remaining Earth military must now come face to face with the ever increasing possibility that the Transformers have returned._

**Chapter Five:**

**The Human Factor**

_Miami Collective_

The military convoy rolled into the highly fortified complex of the Miami Collective with relative ease. Those in the streets who watched it pass held their breath as they witnessed the thunderous roar that the engines made while they navigated through the crowded city-state of Miami. These heavily armored vehicles surrounded the jet-black personnel transport that contained several high priority governmental employees who had been dreading the time when they would be called in to action, or at least consulted for their advice on the situation that was currently developing.

When the convoy stopped in front of the main complex, several guards and escorts in high-impact armor lined the walkway with their full attention. Their suits glistened in the sunlight while their black weapons gave off a hue of death.

The first to exit the military transport was an older gentleman, well into his late fifties. He had dozens of medals decorating the left side of his chest. As he stepped onto the concrete, he placed his hat on his head and the guards all turned to face him. He immediately snapped to attention and saluted them, and they did so in return. He then moved to his right and waited to accompany the next consultant.

Her legs were tan and resembled the beeches that were once packed with thousands of tourists who visited the sands of Miami in the days prior to the Departure. Her pointed shoes, with their high stiletto heel, and her knee-high skirt, made her seem tall, but she barely pushed five foot-five. As she sat on the edge of the seat, she turned around and grabbed a metal briefcase and stood up. She gave a smile at the military gentleman who was waiting for her, and then she made way for the last person to exit the transport.

The last person in no way resembled any formal branch of the military. He was wearing dark blue jeans with black boots. He was wearing a white tee-shirt that read _Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em_ across the chest, with a smiling cigar underneath the logo. He did not look at the two figures waiting for him. Instead, he turned around, closed the door with an authoritative slam, and began walking down to the entrance to the complex.

The two military personnel looked at each other, smiled, and then made their way behind the gentleman. On the end of the walkway were two other men dressed in military garb, both holding folders. They stood at full attention and saluted the trio of approaching individuals. The elder military man saluted back and extended his hand.

"So it seems we have a situation brewing," he stated as he shook both officers' hands. "I'll tell you something, I didn't see this one coming."

The two men turned around and began walking along with the other three people. "Neither did we," the first man said.

The casually dressed man blurted a small laugh and the looked over that the first officer. "Tell me something, Jenkins," he stated with a smile. "Did you really think that they would leave all of their shit behind without ever fetching it?"

"It's _Commander _Jenkins," he said curtly. "And just what the hell do _you _have to do with all of this?" he asked as he glared back. "The last time I heard, you were doing twenty-five on Long Island!"

The female looked over at Commander Jenkins and smiled at him. "We're 'leasing' him from the Greater New York Penitentiary. It seems that his self-proclaimed 'expertise' will be finally useful for us." She looked over at the man and gave him a sarcastic glance. "Isn't that right, O'Reiley?"

The man gave no acknowledgment to her and kept walking to the front door.

"What do we have?" the decorated officer asked as he reached the end of the walkway.

Commander Jenkins opened the door for everybody, and then he followed behind them. He reached for his folder and took out several digital photographs. "These were taken twelve hours ago," he said as he passed them out to everybody. "It seems that, from the looks of it, activity rose on the Autobot city dubbed Metroplex." He handed the female officer an additional picture. "There were two larger shuttles as you can see here," he said as he pointed them out to the female officer.

She shook her head at the picture and looked over at him. "Just how the hell did they get past the Mars outpost station?" she asked in a defensive tone that rang out through the domed court of the complex. "I thought that _damned _station was designed to warn us of any impending foreign intruders?"

"It is," the other military officer said as he passed out some additional pictures. "However, Transformer technology is still just as complex today as it was almost twelve-hundred years ago." He handed her another picture and stopped walking. "What we have discovered, though, is something that you might find interesting."

"What is it, McGlinch?" the older officer said as he stopped walking as well.

The officer, known as Vice Lieutenant McGlinch, turned to his left, opened the door, and let everybody into the dimly lit room. "It seems that our boys down in the tech department discovered some interesting facts about these particular Transformers."

All of the personnel sat at the table, except for both Commander Jenkins and Vice Lieutenant McGlinch. Jenkins grabbed a pen sized remote off of the highly-polished desk and pressed the top of it. The lights dimmed and the back wall split to reveal a screen.

"Let's bring everybody up to speed," Jenkins stated as a black and white digital image of Metroplex appeared on the screen. "What we know is that this city, known as Metroplex, was abandoned at the signing of the Cybertronia Pax at our request. What we also know is that, according to the directives stated throughout the Pax, whatever Transformer technology was left behind was to be deemed off-limits by all human activity." He then looked over at the casually dressed man. "As near as we can tell, we've kept up our end, with the exception of a _few rouges._"

The causally dressed man smiled at the comment directed at him. "Keep going, Jinx," he said with a smile. "I've missed History 101."

Commander Jenkins glared back at the individual and clicked over to the next slide. "As I was saying, there hasn't been any activity, for the most part, on or within any of the Transformer Zones that were assigned in regards to the Cybertronia Pax."

"Until yesterday," the female officer said as she stared at the image of Metroplex.

"Correct, Captain Sorensen," Commander Jenkins stated. He then clicked over to the next slide which was the original picture that he had passed out in the hallway. "A little over twelve hours ago, our satellites picked up this image. Intrigued by it, simply because of the ships that were on the deck of the city, the satellite adjusted orbit and tracked the events that transpired there. That's when we saw this."

He clicked the remote again and there was a new image. This picture contained several Transformers engaging in combat across the deck of the city. Each of the three military personnel became engrossed in the picture. Commander Jenkins then nodded over at Vice Lieutenant McGlinch.

"It seems that an 'incident' occurred between the two factions," McGlinch began. "Apparently, both sides were in a race to make it inside of the compound. Then, when they did, this happened." He clicked over and the next image was snow. "We lost contact with our imaging satellite, but we managed to use a nearby orbiting London Communication Array." He clicked over and an image of another satellite appeared. There was a white beam that was being reflected into two different directions by it. "Apparently, one of the factions activated some type of laser beam and aimed it at this satellite."

"Damn," the older officer said. "Then what?"

Jenkins clicked the remote again and another image of Metroplex appeared. "We're uncertain what the beam was, but some of our technicians speculate that it was a defensive mechanism."

The casually dressed man blurted out in laughter again. He regained his composure and shook his head. "That's not a defense of Metroplex," he said as he looked at Captain Sorensen. "That bitch is a laser communique."

Captain Sorensen looked over at the older officer and nodded at him. "If O'Reiley's right, then that can mean only one thing!"

The older officer shook his head as he looked at the image. "Now, let's not jump to conclusions, Sorensen." He looked over at Lieutenant McGlinch. "What is it that your boys in tech discovered?"

McGlinch nodded at Jenkins who then clicked to another image. This one was a closer picture of three Transformers engaged in close-range combat. "From the composition that we have gathered from subsequent data, they make up the same density and composition as any normal Transformer, with one slight difference." He walked up to the image and pointed at one of the Cybertronians. "These Transformers are smaller in size than the ones we've acquainted ourselves with. It has the same stature as the one we discovered fifteen years ago in that stasis pod."

"Big deal!" O'Reiley stated. "Transformers came in all shapes and sizes." He then looked at the older officer and leaned back in his chair. "Not all were this menacing tower of doom. Some were smaller, known as Mini-bots." He then looked at Captain Sorensen. "Shit! There was even a race known as Micromasters that they created when they went through what was known as the Great Shutdown; it was what they deemed an 'evolutionary step' for the purpose of their survival."

Captain Sorensen looked back at O'Reiley. "What?"

"It's simple, really," O'Reiley began. "They were running low on energy on Cybertron, so both sides created Micromasters in an effort to conserve energy reserves." He pointed at the image on the screen. "These bastards could be a few rogue Micros attempting to loot the crap that was left behind."

Commander Jenkins turned on the lights and the wall covered the screen again. "Nevertheless, several other Collective Nations have confirmed what we saw in regards to the beam of light." He turned to face the female officer. "It was New Detroit that gave us the heads up, and Neo Tokyo is offering their support in the situation."

"I'll bet," Captain Sorensen stated. "They'd love to level the Northern Pacific with plasma bombs just for shits and giggles!"

The senior officer rubbed his chin and shook his head. "That's not an option," he said abruptly. "I'm not going to run out there with guns blazing because of some 'speculation' in Old Oregon." He looked over at Captain Sorensen. "I think that it's best that we keep this under wraps for the time being."

"And how should we do that, sir?" Vice Lieutenant McGlinch asked. "Neo Tokyo probably has the same information as we do, and they've probably alerted the West African Nation, as well as the Moscow/ Soviet Republic to the matter at hand."

The older officer sat there for a moment and contemplated the situation. "_We'll _take care of it!" he said sharply. "If it happened on _our _soil, then it's _our _problem!"

O'Reiley shook his head. "The problem with that statement is that most Collective Nations don't see the old country boarders like they once did."

"Correct," the senior officer said. "But I'm not rushing into a situation that will throw what remains of the planet's population into the proverbial tailspin of chaos!" He looked over at Commander Jenkins and Vice Lieutenant McGlinch. "Set a video conference with Neo-Tokyo in two hours; I want to personally tell Prime Magistrate Yoshido Kazaguro that we'll take care of the situation." He then stood up and looked over at Captain Sorensen. "Get a link to Parisi and his Alpha Squad. I'll want him there for this as well." He then looked at everybody and smiled. "That's it gentlemen."

All of the participants of the meeting stood up and began to walk out of the room. The senior officer gently grabbed O'Reiley by the arm and held him back while the others left the room. He then shut the door and sat back down.

"So what's your take on the situation?" he asked O'Reiley.

A smile came across his face and he sat in the chair next to the officer. "I still think she loves me, but she would never admit it, especially in front of the likes of Jenkins; he's such a hack!"

The senior officer smiled and shook his head. "I'm not talking about that schoolyard crush on Sorensen, you chowder head!" he said jokingly. "I'm talking about the possibility that the Transformers have returned."

O'Reiley smiled and looked over at the officer. "I know," he said with a sigh. He then picked up a photograph and glared at it for a moment. "All I can tell you is that if the shit hits the fan with these bots, then we're in for a wild ride!"

* * *

_Cybertron_

New Iacon bustled with activity as Cybertronians began their orn without the slightest inclination of the events that were unfolding, and that is just how the Council of Elders wanted it. Of course, every Cybertronian understood that there was a certain level of conflict between the two factions, both Maximal and Predacon, but they were unsure of to what extent it had grown. Nevertheless, civilians hopped inside the local metro-tram and caught a ride to their destination; for the most part, the Iacon Energon Recycling and Distribution Compound was the largest employer of Cybertronians.

The metro stopped across the street from Autobase where the Council of Elders had set up their own facility. Several Cybertronians who wore the Maximal symbol got off of the tram and stood on the platform. A few Cybertronians who did not exit watched the Maximals with caution, being careful not to upset one or to do anything suspicious that would cause alarm. The tram's doors closed and it began making its way down to the next stop.

Several Maximals gathered together and began walking across the street, except for two of them. They stayed back to avoid the crowd of Maximals who were headed toward their jobs at Autobase. The first Transformer was a tall red and black Maximal who glared at the departing employees. He stood there with his arms crossed and shook his head at the Maximals.

"Did you see the expression on some of the passengers' faces as we exited the tram?" he asked his partner.

The second Maximal was slightly shorter and was mostly blue with white and gray markings along his forearms and thighs. He looked up to his friend and smiled. "What do you expect, Leo," he said. "Phoenix Prime has a lot of mechs spooked with his actions, to say the least."

Leo began walking off of the platform. "I thought we were here to protect them, Kitbash, not subjugate the masses with fear." He looked over his shoulder to make sure that he was not being followed. "They've got Prime and his marauders gallivanting all across the system wiping out Predacon cells without any hesitation, which usually ends up on the Free Press Net!"

Kitbash stepped off of the curb and looked to his left to make sure that nothing was approaching as they walked across the street. "Tell me about it," he said with a smile. "Prime and that bunch of hooligans really put a kink into everything that we've worked so hard to build, especially after that Megatron debacle."

Leo and Kitbash stepped onto the sidewalk in front of Autobase and paused for a moment. They watched as a transport shuttle pulled alongside of the curb and settled into a resting position. They saw many Maximals who they were familiar with, and at times gave small nods in their direction acknowledging their arrival to work. Then, Kitbash looked up the gigantic steps of Autobase and saw two figures looming by the pillars of the entrance.

"Guess who's arrived to the church on time?" Kitbash said to Leo as he smiled at the two figures who were beginning to make their way down the steps.

Leo stood straight and shook his head at the two approaching mechs. "Just my damn luck," he said softly.

The first figure was a female Maximal who had two swords attached to her back. As she made her way to Leo and Kitbash, she sneered at their presence. "Well, well, well," she said with a dark smile. "It's not every orn that we're _blessed _with _your _presence."

Leo extended his hand to the female Maximal, but she did not reciprocate. Instead, she looked down at his hand and raised her brow. "Ever so eloquent and pleasant, Demon Diva," he said. He then looked at the other figure and smiled in his direction. "And it's nice to see you too, Horrorskope."

The purple and black Maximal known as Horrorskope turned his attention to Demon Diva. "So, these are the two waste-holes who have the Elders so slaggin' mad?" He turned back to Leo and Kitbash and shook his head. "That's hard to believe."

Kitbash stepped forward and looked directly into Horrorskope's red optic visor. "Listen here, puke!" he said loudly. "If you think that Leo and I are. . ."

"Blimey!" Horrorskope shouted as he stepped backwards. "This sprite has some flare!" he said with a smile.

Kitbash took another step toward Horrorskope and sneered at the Maximal enforcer. "I'll show you some. . ."

"That's enough for now, Kitbash," Leo said as he placed his hand on Kitbash's shoulder attempting to calm down his friend. "We're not going to sink down to _their _level."

Demon Diva smiled and glanced over at Leo. "Our level?" she said. "Let me tell you something Leo. We're not the ones withholding information from the Council of Elders regarding the disappearance of two Maximal ships, along with the Predacons that they were pursuing."

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Leo asked. "I've told the Council everything that I have. . ."

"I'm sure you have," Demon Diva said with a smile. "And that's why they want to see you regarding the disappearance of Prowl and his crew."

* * *

_The Pacific Ocean  
off the coast of Northern California_

Many of the Predacons on the ship were becoming nervous. All of them, except for Malpractice and Kross, had never encountered the likes of water before, and each of them were getting anxious while they were wondering just how long the ship would stay afloat.

"I hear that this stuff freezes up your joints and you stay frozen until you slowly run out of energon," Heatwave said softly to Fearswoop as they stood near their station. "I heard that there is at least fifteen Decepticons at the bottom of this body of water."

Fearswoop smiled and looked over at Heatwave. "I've heard that it begins to rust you slowly, like an infection, except that there is no cure for it." He turned back to face the monitor. "Legend has it that this 'water' killed the Decepticon known as Finback before the attack of the Harbingers."

On the other end of the bridge, Weasel paid no attention to the Predacons around him. He was completely frozen with fear that the ship may sink into the water and they would have to fight to get to the surface. The thought of coming in contact with the water overtook his thoughts, and he began to suffocate with fear. He watched the instruments intently that indicated that the ship was indeed floating on the water, and he made sure that he was ready to inform Kross if there was the slightest twinge in the output readings.

In the center of the bridge, Kross stood up and made his way over to Malpractice who was delicately scanning the bottom of the ocean. He stood next to the Predacon and rubbed his hands together. "Anything yet?" he asked trying to hide his enthusiasm.

"Negative," Malpractice replied. "The floors of the ocean are very difficult to read." He looked up at Kross who was intently watching over him. "Anything could very well be a possibility." He turned to face the instruments again. "The true question is this: how are we going to get down there?"

Kross continued to watch Malpractice. "I'll do it myself if I have to!" he exclaimed. "Take a good look around you. Aside from you and I, my best guess is that Downtrodden would be the only one to accompany me."

Malpractice paused for a moment. He then frantically began to double check his readings. He looked up and smiled at Kross. "Then you two better get ready now!"

* * *

_North American  
Atlantic Coastline_

The highly polished silver jet streaked through the beautiful mid afternoon sky along the shoreline off the coast of Virginia and headed toward old Democratic Florida. The sunlight glistened off of the shell of the jet and created a blinding effect to anyone who might be following it from below. As it made its way down the coast of North America, it made absolutely no sound except for the rushing of air as it passed by the trees of the mountains that it skimmed over.

In the hull of the plane sat four men and two women, all dressed casually. Three of them sat at a table playing poker. The other woman was reading _To Have and Have Not_ in a chair by a window and became lost in the story of a man searching for himself, as she often did on days like this. A man had reclined his seat and was sleeping on his side while the last man was reading through some documents tucked away in a folder. He paused for a moment and looked at his crew and shook his head at the three who were getting a little boisterous during their game.

"Straight flush!" one of the men said with a smile. He turned his head and looked at the woman who was sitting next to him. "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh. Now _that's _almost as good as sex!"

The woman smiled at the man's comment. "And like how would you know about sex?" she said sarcastically toward him.

The man shook his head at the woman and leaned back in his reclining chair. "Bitch," he said jokingly. He looked across from him and smiled at the other man playing. "And what about you?"

The man threw down his cards in disgust. "The hell with this game!" he said. He leaned over and nodded at his friend who was gloating. "You must rig this shit!"

He placed both hands behind his head and continued to smile. "HA!" he blurted. "As if!" He turned his attention toward the woman who was rubbing her chin. "So, what's left, Dre?"

She raised her eyebrow and shook her head at the gentleman. "Now, I may be a newbie to poker, but I would think that a royal flush would beat your hand."

The man leaned on the table and looked at her cards. He watched as the woman placed her hand on the table where he saw her hand in its entirety. He closed his eyes and rubbed his face in disappointment.

"Looks like Andrea got the best of you, Tennant," the other man said with a smile as he looked over at the woman.

"Don't start, Cordero. Don't start," he said as he kept his eyes closed. He then opened them and looked at the woman. "Just how the hell. . ."

"It's a woman's touch," she said as she grabbed the pile of multi-colored money off of the center of the table. She then winked at the two men and began to walk away from the table. She made her way to the man who was reading the papers from the file. She moved the folder to another empty seat and sat next to the man.

"If you keep that shit up you're going to bankrupt us all, Andrea," he said as he continued to read the paper in front of him.

She began to sort through the money with a smile. "I'll always keep some cash for you and Kylie, boss." Her red lips glistened in the light. She looked over at him and tried to see what he was reading. "What's that?"

He made no attempt to look over at her. "Mission parameters," he said softly. He removed a picture from the stack of papers that he was reading and handed it to the woman. "Take a look at that."

She placed her money in her lap and took the photograph off of the man. She squinted as she attempted to make out the images on the picture. "What am I looking for or at, Kevin?" she asked.

He put the stack of papers down and turned to her. He then pointed at one of the images on the picture. "That there is what they call a Transformer," he said. "You know them, right?"

The woman gave a slight nod at the man. "Vaguely. Why?"

"It seems that, for some reason or another, they've returned," he said. "That's why we were called out of Maine so rapidly without any equipment." He turned around and grabbed another stack of papers. "It seems that our equipment is en route to an alternative destination while I go and sit with the big wigs in Miami."

"Aren't they supposed to be some super robot or something?" she said inquisitively. "I thought they were extinct or something like that."

The man smiled at her remarks. "Not likely," he began. "It turns out that they are indeed alive and well, and they've returned to Earth for their garbage that they left behind after the signing of the Pax."

"The Cybertronia Pax?" she said. "But I thought that was some myth."

"Not on your life," he said grimly. "In fact, Transformers are where we get the technology for Alpha Squad. How do you think we get them to turn into those mobile battle suits so easily?"

She looked over at the man who returned to reading the papers. "So what does this mean?" she asked.

He stopped reading for a moment, turned to her, and looked into her brown eyes. "It most likely means that the shit is gonna hit the fan sooner than humanity expected."


	6. Chapter 6

**Transformers:**

**Apocalypse Song**

_Humanity said farewell to the Transformers over five hundred years ago after the signing of the Cybertronia Pax Treaty at the end of the Dread War. Under the conditions set out by the terms of the document, all Transformers were forbidden to return to Earth, and all Transformers were to leave Earth immediately. In the rush to leave the planet, the Autobots left behind a vast amount of equipment and belongings, but according to the Cybertronia Pax, all of the former Transformer locations were to be deemed off limits by the Earth governments until their return to Earth._

_Through the events of history and the many years that followed, humanity shrank down to a mere fraction of what it once was. The population went from eight billion down to five hundred million_._ The events that triggered such a shrinkage created a hole in history and the events of the past became a mystery cloaked within shadows of doubt. While some humans are fully aware of Transformers and their role in human history, some continue to believe that it was nothing more than myth and legend. The events that are currently unfolding are making some humans question their beliefs of the past and are having others prepare for the worst which is yet to come._

_Meanwhile in the depths pf the Pacific Ocean, Kross has discovered something that he believes will give him an advantage over the Maximals who have set up base at Metroplex._

**Chapter Six:**

**Revelations**

Downtrodden rapidly completed sealing the exterior hatch that would enable both Kross and himself to enter the ancient ship without a mass of water flowing into the behemoth space craft. He retracted the welding unit imbedded within his index finger and waived over to Kross who was examining the structure of the massive ship. Kross then started swimming over to Downtrodden and examined the hatch for himself.

"This must have an air-tight seal," Kross stated as he slapped the hatch with his hand. "If it doesn't, then we're going to rupture the hatch and flood the ship!"

Downtrodden nodded at his commanding officer. "No problem, sir," he said with ease. "I went over the sealing twice to ensure that it was in fact sealed off completely from the water." He looked down at the hatch. "Once we enter the unit, we can then purge the water and enter the ship freely without cause for alarm."

Kross floated down to the hatch unit's door and turned the handle downward. He then pulled the door open and watched as the water rushed into the hatchway. He then waived to Downtrodden to follow him into the unit. "Let's go," he said softly. "And be careful."

Downtrodden was taken back somewhat by the concern that Kross displayed for him. He nodded at his commander and followed him into the hatch. Once they were both in the unit, Downtrodden turned around and closed the hatch for the unit. He then activated the purging mechanism and watched as the water began to flow out of the room.

Kross looked at the water that was leaving the unit and started shaking his head. He then turned around and gazed at the hull of the soft purple ship. He touched it as if the sensation would bring back memories to his neural processor, and that it did. He remembered everything now.

He remembered the fall of Megatron at the hands of Optimus Prime. How Rodimus Prime took over the Autobots as they searched for a cure for their fallen leader. Then there was Unicron and the Heralds. The Hoard and Shockwave's betrayal to the Alliance. Starscream's death at the hands of Galvatron. The events flooded his memory. He turned to Downtrodden in his delight. "Magnificent," he said softly.

Downtrodden nodded at his commander in response to his ecstacy. "Indeed." He could manage to say no more. The Predacon watched as Kross began to unlock the door to the massive ship.

There was a loud screech as the rusted metal hinges of the door scraped against themselves. Decayed paint flaked off of the door and fell to the floor as Kross shoved the hulking door all the way open. Inside the ship was completely void of light. Both Downtrodden and Kross activated the flashlights within the upper portion of their wrists and they began to enter the ship slowly.

Kross turned to Downtrodden and pointed to his left. "We need to make our way to the center command hub," he said. "There we can find what we've came here for."

Downtrodden began to follow Kross. He pointed his writs up and looked at the ceiling of the hallway. "And just what _are _we looking for, sir?" he asked as he moved the light around.

Kross reached the end of the hallway and pulled out a small wire from the lower portion of his wrist. He found a small port underneath a control consol and plugged the wire into it. "Perhaps Metroplex wasn't the best option that was available to us," he began. His single optic turned green and he began to access the ship's main computer. "However, what we're going to need now is an advantage against our foes."

Downtrodden became confused at Kross's words. He pointed the light at his leader and approached him. "What kind of advantage can we get against an entire city? It's practically a living weapon!"

Kross turned towards Downtrodden as his optic returned to its red color. He unplugged the wire and slid it back into his wrist. "Indeed," Kross murmured. "The Maximals have gained a significant advantage over us by gaining access to Metroplex, but they will find that although it provides them with a base of operations, the city is quite cumbersome when it comes to offense!" He opened his wrist communicator and touched his left audio receptor with his hand. "Metroplex is more of a _defensive _strategy than an offensive _weapon_, and _that's _what we want!"

There was a crackle as the communication link was set. "Malpractice to Kross."

"Connection achieved, Malpractice," Kross said. "Begin uploading codex seven-two-seven."

Immediately there was a hum that began to resonate throughout the ship. The dead lights began to flicker to life again, and control panels started rebooting. Both Kross and Downtrodden switched their wrist lights off as the massive hall was illuminated by ceiling lights. Downtrodden stood there in awe as he gazed at the enormity of the ship. He turned around and looked down the hall into what seemed to be an endless passage.

"Magnificent indeed," Kross said. He then pressed a sequence of numbers on his wrist panel and the door opened. He turned to Downtrodden who was still taking in the sight of the ship. "Let's go."

Downtrodden and Kross began walking down the next hallway toward what seemed to be an elevator. Downtrodden looked over at Kross who seemed unaffected by the sight of the ship. "What is this place?" he asked.

Kross continued to walk. "This is where it all began, my friend," he started. _"This _is where your ancestors, the Decepticons, began their assault on this planet. Megatron's plan was simple; assimilate the entire planet and strip it of its energon." He looked over at Downtrodden who was listening intently to Kross's every word. "This is the original _Nemesis_!"

The two Predacons reached the elevator and stopped in front of the hulking doors. Downtrodden looked around him for any sign of life. "So what are we looking for then?" he asked.

The door opened and Kross stepped into the elevator. He moved over for Downtrodden and pressed some more numbers on his wrist computer. "When the Great War ended, the Decepticons turned over the _Nemesis _as an act of good faith for the Alliance. The Autobots occupied the ship for a brief period of time, and then abandoned it in their _arrogance_." The doors closed and the elevator began to descend. Kross then looked over at Downtrodden. "Years later, the Loyalists turned this into a base of operations on Earth. We secretly plotted and staged attacks from here while the Earthbound Autobots began to spread throughout the planet. Eventually, the Autobot Commander Bluestreak led an assault on the base, and we were forced to flee like dogs!"

Downtrodden looked over at Kross. "You were. . ."

"The Autobots then turned this ship into a prison for rogue Decepticons," he said as he interrupted Downtrodden. "However, it wasn't running long before the planet was evacuated."

The elevator stopped and the doors slid open. "So we're looking for inmates?" Downtrodden asked hesitantly.

"Indeed," Kross said. "There was one set of Loyalists who were imprisoned here before the ship was abandoned; the Autobots left them behind for fear of them wreaking havoc if they took them along as they departed Earth." Kross laughed to himself. "How arrogant of them," he said. "The Autobots flee Cybertron and leave _us _to clean up the mess until they return!"

They came to another room. Kross pushed the door open and it revealed what could only be described as a medical laboratory. As the two Predacons made their way into the room, they looked around at the equipment.

"So this will be our new base?" Downtrodden asked.

Kross nodded. "Indeed it will, my dear Downrodden," Kross said. He pointed to the opposite end of the room. "I'm sure that Malpractice will have plenty of opportunities to make good use of this complex."

Kross continued to walk to the opposite end of the room. Finally, he spotted what he was looking for. There was a series of stasis tubes that were frosted over with cryogenic elements. The tubes towered over the two Predacons as they stood there. Kross touched the tube and nodded at Downtrodden. "Still in tact," he said.

Downtrodden looked up at the tubes and shook his head in disbelief. "Are they Decepticons?" he asked.

Kross nodded as he glanced upward. "Decepticons of the _highest _caliber," he stated. He took his hand and wiped some frost off with a single stroke. "These soldiers will help to bring the bastard Maximals to their knees!" He then started walking over to the control desk that oversaw the stasis tubes. He pulled the wire from his wrist and plugged it into another port. Instantly, the lights inside of the tubes lit up and the liquid started to bubble.

Once completely lit, both Predacons could make out five figures inside the individual tubes. Each figure had several tubes plugged into them. Downtrodden watched as the nourishing liquid began to bond with each figure

Kross started to laugh to himself. He then unplugged himself and reveled in the sight of the tubes bustling with new life as he slowly walked over toward Downtrodden. "My dear Downtrodden," he started. "I give you the next step in our endeavor to reconquer Cybertron and the galaxy!" He stood next to the tubes and threw his hands up over his head. "Behold: the Combatacons!"

* * *

_Neo Tokyo Harbor_

The human stood there and gazed out into the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. He smiled as he took in the tranquility that resonated from listening to the waves gently hit the pier that he stood upon. The morning chill made him zip his jacket completely, but it did not deter him from staying.

"When are you leaving?" a soft voice asked from over his shoulder.

The man became startled; he was completely unaware of anyone around him. He turned around and smiled at the woman. He then walked over to her and grabbed her hands. "This afternoon," he replied. "Master General Kazamura says that Gogyratron needs to be prepped for some sort of emergency that's developing in the United States."

"Kazamura's a fool!" she said angrily. "Can't he leave the Americans well enough alone?"

The man smiled at the woman. He slipped his hands from her grip and placed them on her stomach. He then looked into her eyes and kissed her on the forehead. "Believe me, Kyra, you're not the only one who feels that way."

* * *

_Cape Hatteras, New Carolina_

The man in the white jacket looked over the document that was handed to him by the soldier. He shook his head in disgust and peered over the pad and looked at the officer who was standing there in front of him.

"Does the general know the dangers of such an objective?" he asked sternly.

The soldier smiled back at the scientist and shook his head. "Knowing him, I highly doubt that he knows or cares for that matter."

The scientist reached for the pen that was wedged behind his left ear. He clicked the top of it and tapped the pen on his tongue. "I'm signing this out of protest," he began to say as he started writing his name on the paper. "However, should something go wrong, I, and my division, will not assume responsibility for the outcome."

The soldier smiled at the scientist and politely took the paper from him. "Duly noted, sir," he said. "But I don't think that's going to matter with the general." The soldier then turned around and began to walk out of the white laboratory.

The scientist rubbed his temple as he watched the soldier leave. He then placed the pen in his jacket pocket and sighed to himself. He turned around and started walking toward the control consol. "Can you believe that?" he shouted to his partner. "The general has some nerve to think that we're going to have our boy here ready by Friday!"

"That's Militian for you," a voice called from above.

The scientist looked up and saw his partner climbing down the iron girders that surrounded the large robot. He watched as the man took his time descending from his perch. Once the man was off of the girders, he walked over to the scientist and they stood there looking at the large robot.

"When was the last time that we thought that old tall, dark, and ugly here was ready for operation?" the scientist asked the man. He walked up to the robot and slapped it on his side. "Jesus, it took us four years to identify the anti-encryption codex buried within its neural network, which is highly unlike any other Transformer data that we've had archived in the banks."

Both scientists looked up at the smaller Transformer. Each of them grabbed their notepads and began to read off the information that was written on the pads. They both then walked over to the water fountain and got a glass of water before they began to run the diagnostics for making the dormant Transformer ready for active service.

* * *

_Metroplex_

Orion Magnus and Liger kept running toward their destination. They smiled as they leapt over curbs and streaked down the street. Each of the Maximals were in awe at the sight of the living city that they were now calling home. Both of the two Transformers heard stories about Metroplex, but neither of them could fathom the true magnitude of what Metroplex actually was.

Orion Magnus looked over at Liger who was running along the side of him. "Prowl said that it's straight ahead of us, Liger." Orion Magnus looked in front of him again. "Hopefully this looks like this is the last stop for today."

"Thank Primus," Liger said with a smile. "I was getting a little tired of running all around this city." He glanced over at his partner who was running on all fours. Liger let out a small chuckle as the sight of Orion Magnus's bear mode looked awkward running through the city streets. "Why couldn't they check the station back at the command center?"

Orion Magnus slowed down as they approached the location. "Prowl said that this one runs on an independent system, making it virtually impossible for the command center to scan using standard equipment." He began walking as he looked around at the building. "This is some sort of lab, I suppose."

"Not just any lab," a voice stated from the communication link. "This one belonged to Wheeljack."

Both Maximals transformed into their robot forms and looked at each other. Liger opened up the video screen in his forearm and gazed at the image of Prowl. "Do you mean _the _Wheeljack?" he asked in a stunned manner.

Prowl laughed at the Maximal's question. "I swear, every time that I mention one of the older Autobots it's like you're talking about an actual incarnation of Primus himself." There was a glitch of static as he spoke to Liger. "Yeah. The thing is that the lab you two are at was built specifically by Wheeljack. It's not on the city grid, so you can't run an active diagnostic scan from the command center."

"Why's that?" Orion Magnus asked as he touched the door to the building.

"Probably because he didn't want to do any damage to Metroplex by causing a power surge," Prowl's image said with a smirk as he remembered his friend. "Wheeljack was brilliant, but he was clumsy as all slag."

Liger touched the massive door and looked back at the image of Prowl. "So, how are we supposed to get in?" he asked.

"You're going to have to splice into the control consol that's outside of the door," Prowl began. "If you two can get an uplink to the consol form you mini-computer, Metroplex can decode the access codex for us."

Neither of the two Maximals could reach the panel. Liger then shook his head and bent down. "Get on," he said with a huff.

Orion Magnus smiled at Liger and shook his head. "How sweet," he said sarcastically. Orion Magnus crawled onto Liger's back and latched onto his shoulders. Liger then stood up straight so Orion Magnus could reach the panel.

"Hurry up, hefty," Liger stated. "You would think that all of that running around the city would have cut your weight down, but no!"

Orion Magnus smiled and then tapped Liger on the head. "I'm in, crankcase!" He pulled a wire form his wrist and plugged in into the panel. "She's ready, Prowl!"

The panel hummed to life and all of the lights turned a bright yellow. Rapidly, Metroplex's diagnostic scanning program ran through the decoding protocols. Suddenly, there was a loud clang as the locks on the door began to come undone.

"There you go," Prowl said. "I want you two to be careful in there, do you hear me?"

Orion Magnus leapt off of Liger's shoulders and smiled at Prowl's image. "You got it, boss-bot," he said. He then closed the video link screen and glanced over at Liger. "After you," Orion Magnus said with a smile and a bow.

Liger shook his head and sighed at Orion Magnus as he gestured for Liger to enter the building. "Why thanks a lot!" Liger stepped into the completely dark room and looked around. He then turned to face Orion Magnus who was directly behind him. "Just how the slag are we supposed to scan anything in here?"

Orion Magnus shrugged his shoulders at his friend's comment. "I guess we're gonna have to feel our way around the place." He then slapped Liger in the back of the head. "Or, we could use our wrist-illuminators, wing-nut!" he said with a smile.

Liger shook his head at Orion Magnus. "Yeah, like they're going to provide us with enough light."

The two Maximals turned on their wrist-illuminators and began to walk deeper into the building. Each of the two Maximals scanned the walls of the building in an effort to see something. Oddly enough, neither of the two Maximals knew what they were looking for.

Liger pointed his wrist to his left and whistled. "This place sure is huge!"

Orion Magnus pointed his wrist in the other direction. "I suppose that it had to be, Liger. The Autobots were significantly larger than . . ." Orion Magnus stopped abruptly as he ran face first into a large computer consol. He then fell backward and landed on his side. "DAMN!" he shouted.

Liger pointed the light at his friend and began to laugh. "Sweet!" he exclaimed. He then pointed the light at the consol. "Let's take a gander at what you _stumbled _upon!"

"Very funny," Orion Magnus said as he shook his head at the pun laced statement made by his friend. He then got up and walked over to the consol. He pointed the light at the consol and saw a large metal chair. He then climbed on to the chair and looked at the control panel. "Looks like we're at the master mainframe unit," Orion Magnus said. "Maybe we can patch into this baby and get the lights working."

Liger looked up at his friend and smiled. "That would be nice. It's getting a little creepy out here, ya know?"

Orion Magnus looked around for what might be the light switch. "Here we are," he said. He then pressed a sequence of buttons and the lights began to illuminate.

The overhead ceiling lights began to warm up after their period of dormancy. The room became increasingly brighter as they continued to glow. Both of the Maximals looked around and gazed at the sheer size of the complex. The room was full of large pieces of equipment that were staggered throughout the vicinity. There were crates stacked in the background, and a magnetic crane was off in the distance, while a catwalk maze skimmed the surface of the ceiling.

However, something caught Liger's optics as he looked off to the opposite end of the room. "Come down here" he said to Orion Magnus. "Check this out."

Orion Magnus jumped off of the chair and landed next to Liger. "What?" he asked.

Liger pointed to the direction of four glass tubes. "Right there!" He began walking over to the tubes that were beginning to bubble with life. "What the hell are they?"

Orion Magnus squinted and began to walk over to the tubes as well. "It looks like they might be. . . stasis tubes?" he said with hesitation.

"Stasis tubes?" Liger repeated. "You mean, like the ones where you keep injured Transformers?"

Both Maximals started running over to the tubes. Orion Magnus opened the communication link with Prowl and gazed into it with amazement. "Prowl, you're not going to believe what we just found!"

A look of concern overcame Prowl. "What?" he asked.

"Stasis tubes!" Liger shouted. "We found stasis tubes with Autobots inside of them!"

Prowl shook his head and his optics grew wider. "Did Liger say stasis tubes?"

"He sure did," Orion Magnus said. "We've got four active tubes here!"

The two Maximals stopped directly in front of the tubes. They looked up at them as the fluid inside of the tubes continued to bubble. They looked up at the massive tubes and gazed at them with amazement.

"Who's inside of them?" Prowl asked with heavy concern.

Both Maximals shrugged. "Don't know," Liger said. "There's no markings on the tubes to identify them."

"Go to the consol and see if you can find an identity index," Prowl said frantically.

The two Maxiamls ran to the consol to the right of the tubes. They both pushed another metal chair over to the consol so they could read the instruments on the computer. They then climbed onto the chair and gazed at the computer's screen.

"There we go," Liger said.

"Who are they?' Prowl asked again.

Orion Magnus read the first name that was on the list. "Bluestreak," he said with concern. "Wasn't that the leader of the Earthbound Autobots during the Alliance?"

Prowl smiled and nodded at the sound of his old friend's name. "That he was, and what a bot he was, or should I say is?" He then rubbed his temple and looked back at Orion Magnus. "Who else is there?"

"Springer," Liger said. He then looked at the last two names. "We've also got Blur and Getaway down here as well!"

The smile on Prowl's face grew bigger with each name. "I'm on my way," Prowl said. The communication was then cut and the wrist monitor shut.

Liger then looked over at Orion Magnus and tilted his head. "So, what does this mean now?" he asked his friend who stood there amazed the sight of the tubes.

Orion Magnus did not reply. He stood there hoping that not only did this mean that the Maximals were now getting support, but he also prayed that this discovery would now help to unlock the secrets of his own past.

* * *

_Cybertron: Maximal High Command _

The monitor turned off and the figure turned around to face the other members of the council. He gave a grimace that displayed his disgust of the situation that began to unfold due in large part to the "lack of structure" on the _Ark Haven_. He slowly sat in his chair and began to address the other members.

"The situation has progressed to a level that we had not originally anticipated," he said calmly. "It seems that, according to intelligence, the Autobot beacon on Metroplex was activated recently."

All of the members looked at each other in dismay. They still believed that returning to Earth was out of the realm of possibility, since many of the records were destroyed or locked away.

A white Maximal stood up and glanced at the gathered members. "Perhaps we should send an investigation crew to clarify the situation," he suggested in his baritone voice.

"No," a grey member said sternly. "The activation means that the Earthlings are aware of our presence. Sending more Maximals would only escalate the situation to dangerous levels."

A red and black female Maximal looked at the grey member and rubbed her chin. "What if we sent an extermination crew?" she suggested softly.

"I believe that the situation is beyond that," the grey member stated. "There is no point in covering up our presence there." He looked at the Maximal who received the transmission. "I firmly believe that this is somehow tied to Prowl's recent disappearance."

The female Maximal looked over at the grey Maximal and nodded in agreement. "Indeed. I suggest that it is time to move forward with our current agenda regarding Earth."

There was a ruckus as many of the Maximals became jaded by her suggestion. They turned to look at each other and shook their head at the idea of rushing into the situation.

"Perhaps Jada is right," the grey Maximal said. "We've waited for far too long to move to the next phase, and perhaps this is the jolt that we need to continue." Silence blanketed the room as all of the Maximals turned to face the grey member. "What we need to do now is to begin the purification process and collect the genetic material for reproduction."

"And what of the situation on Earth?" another Maximal shouted. "If we leave Prowl there, who knows what will happen!"

The grey Maximal smiled and nodded at the comment. "Indeed," he said. "Maybe we should eliminate this problem. After all, his discovery of our plans would compromise our goals even further."

"Then what should we do?" another member shouted.

"Send in the Prime!" a voice called from the corner. "He'll take care of it!"

The grey Maximal shook his head making sure that everyone understood that he disagreed with the suggestions. "Let us not be rash, my kin. This needs to be handled in a _specific _way." He smiled as he began to develop a plan of action. "What we need to do is think of the perfect Maximal, or Predacon, to take care of them." He nodded at the Council members. "In due time, my Maximals, we will be rid of these Earthbound Maximals, as well as the Predacons, and move forward with the survival of our species!"


	7. Chapter 7

**Transformers:**

**Apocalypse Song**

_Kross discovered the ancient Decepticon ship know as the Nemesis. In an attempt to secure his power to gain control of Cybertron, Kross and his band of rogue Predacons have taken over the ship as their new headquarters on Earth. While establishing power to the ship, Kross revealed several Decepticon Loyalist who were imprisoned on the ship when it was under Autobot control. Hoping to gain an advantage over the Maximals, Kross began to revive the ancient Decepticon sub-group known as the Combatacons._

_Back at Metroplex, Liger and Orion Magnus discovered the stasis tubes of four Autobots that were left behind in order to heal from their wounds sustained during the war with the Dread. Upon hearing that his friends were discovered, Prowl immediately went down to begin the steps to reanimate the Autobots, hoping that they would assist him in thwarting Kross and the Predacons._

_Meanwhile, on Cybertron, The Maximal Council of Elders learned that the Autobot beacon on Metroplex was activated, thereby threatening their plans. In an attempt to ensure that their current agenda is kept on course, the Council has begun taking steps necessary to keep all of their plans in tact._

**Chapter Seven:**

**All Loose Ends**

_Cybertron_

_Ark Haven_

Leo sighed as he looked out of the observation window aboard the _Ark Haven_. He watched solemnly as Cybertron continued to revolve slowly below him, while the first moon began to rise over the northern horizon of Iacon. Leo stood there and smiled to himself as he saw several Maximal transport ships enter a standard orbit in preparation for their transwarp displacement. He touched the thick glass with his right hand and nodded to himself as he understood that these were his last few moments as commanding officer of the _Ark Haven_.

Leo turned around and observed the events as the crew on the bridge went about their jobs. He witnessed many Maximals cross checking verification codes and transwarp destinations for the orbiting ships. Many were headed to the various colonies of Cybertronians who began exploring the vastness of space, while some ventured out in hopes of finding the ancient Autobot and Decepticon technologies that had vanished during the Dread War.

As Leo stood there in amazement, a small yellow and gray female Maximal came up the steps and approached him. She stood up straight and smiled at her commanding officer, the only one that she ever worked for during her tenure as a Maximal. She handed Leo a black data pad and looked at him as he reached for it.

"Everything's in order, sir," she said with a soft smile. "Security codes have been decrypted and strained for the new commanding officer."

Leo took the pad and activated the data-bank on it. He looked up at the female Maximal and smiled back at her. "Good work, Somerset," he said. He then glanced at the data and watched as it streamed across the pad's monitor. "Looks like everything is ready for verification." He punched in a five digit code and the screen went red. He handed the pad back to the Maximal and shook her hand. "Excellent job."

Somerset checked the monitor and slid a code-card across the top. The monitor then went from red to yellow, indicating that the codes were cleaned and ready for a fresh encryption by the new commanding officer of the _Ark Haven_. She watched as Leo looked at the crew of the bridge.

"It seems strange to have a new commander coming onboard," Somerset said. "It won't be the same without you here, sir."

Leo smiled and looked at the Maximal. "Thank you," he replied. He then began walking over to the command chair of the bridge and stood watching the continuous activity below. "These orns, I need all the compliments that I can get."

Somerset looked inquisitively at Leo and tilted her head. "Why would the Council of Elders decide to change commanders?" she asked. "Usually they stray away from change and stick with the norm."

Leo looked at Somerset and shook his head. "When you let two Predacon ships get away and head toward Earth, then I guess change is for the better." He grabbed the railing and looked back at the crew. "I let Primal chase after the Predacons, and then he disappears." He turned his head and watched the activity outside of the observation window. "Then, Prowl heads off and disappears too, chasing Kross and his Predacon rogues. Hell, if they aren't reasons enough for my dismissal then I don't know what qualifies."

Somerset nodded in sympathy with her commander's feelings. She smiled at him and looked into his optics. "Not everything is your fault, Leo."

"Tell that to the Council." Just then, the light above the elevators turned red, indicating that it was on they way up the shaft and to the bridge. Leo looked at the light and shook his head. "You better get the crew ready," he said to Somerset without even looking at her.

Somerset opened up a compartment on the top of her hand and pressed a green button. A soft whistle came over the intercom and the Maximals on the bridge all turned their attention toward Leo.

The proud Maximal smiled at Somerset and then stood straight as he prepared to address the crew. "It's been an honor working with such fine Maximals," Leo began. "Not an orn went by during my command that I could have wanted a better crew on the _Ark Haven_. However, recent events state that while the crew was impeccable, the commanding officer was not. That is why, I'm sad to say, I'll be turning over the command of the _Ark Haven _to a new Maximal." He looked at the crew of the bridge as they soaked up the shock of the news as best as they could. "I'm positive that each of you will continue to do your jobs to the best of your abilities, no matter what your current feelings on the situation are."

The light above the door turned green. The heavy blast doors opened and inside of it stood a purple and black Maximal. He looked around and sneered at the sight of the bridge while he began to make his way out of the elevator.

"What the _hell _is this?" he demanded. He stood there briefly and looked at the crew of the bridge. "Everybody is supposed to be off the bridge. _NOW_!" He looked around at the dumbfounded Maximals and shook his head in disgust. "Who the slag is in charge of this wreck?"

Leo approached the crass Maximal and stood in front of him. "That would be me!" he said sternly.

The purple and black Maximal walked away from Leo and stood in the center of the bridge. "That figures," he said. He turned around and watched as the other elevator door opened. Out poured several other Maximals, each carrying equipment. He looked at the crew of the _Ark Haven _and pointed to the chronometer on the wall above the ship's monitor. "You all have less that one breem to get off of the bridge!" he shouted. "I suggest that if you want to keep your positions as Maximals you'll hurry up without the slightest hesitation!"

The Maximals on the station all began filing toward the elevator. They all abandoned their stations and headed to the back of the bridge. The Maximals who were now assigned to the station quickly made their way to the vacant posts and started deactivating the equipment.

The purple and black Maximal looked at Somerset and pointed to her data pad. "Are they the security data codes?" he asked viciously.

Somerset handed the data pad over to the dark Maximal and smiled, hoping to calm the situation. "You'll find that. . ."

"Whatever," he said quickly. He turned around and looked at a smaller orange maximal who was standing next to him. "Have these codes _properly _cleansed for encryption," he said severely. "I don't intend on having 'situations' occur under _my _watch!" He turned around and looked up at the chronometer again. "You better hurry if you want to keep your jobs," he said without looking at either Leo or Somerset. The Maximal smiled to himself and turned his head slightly, catching Leo in the corner of his optics. "But in your case Leo, I'm not sure if it matters at all!"

Leo and Somerset both looked at each other and headed toward the elevator. They watched as the new crew of the _Ark Haven _began dismantling several work stations in preparation for the new administration. Leo shook his head in disappointment as he realized that his job was finished. He made his way inside of the elevator and shook his head at the sight of the dismantling taking place in front of his optics.

"Sorry, old girl," Leo said softly as the door to the elevator closed.

* * *

_Earth_

_New Carolina_

The orange and black mech summer saluted and quickly sprang to its feet. The mechanoid pulled the small sidearm from its waist, activated its targeting program, and then it fired off three rounds at the trio of large metallic dolls that resembled Transformers which were larger in scale, each with the Autobot symbol on their chest. The shots cleaved off the heads of the practice dummies, sending them rolling to the ground.

"Excellent, Jacobs," a man clad in tan military garb said to the scientist who stood at the control station. "Try Series Two, please."

The tall scientist wiped his forehead from the sweat that began to roll down it due to the afternoon sun. He smiled at his partner and pointed to the control knob on the far side of the station. "Initiate liquidation sequence," he requested.

The other scientist turned the knob and pressed two red buttons by the side of the knob. He looked over at Jacobs and nodded. "Ready for full display," he said.

Immediately, the robot attached his weapon to his side. Then, there was the sound of several clamps disengaging from the mech's back. Out sprang eight black tendrils that could easily be mistaken for legs. Several joints on each tendril made them curve around the sides and shoulders of the robot. They then targeted a new practice dummy off in the distance behind the cover of trees.

"Fire," the scientist known as Jacobs said.

The tendrils began firing rapidly at the practice mech. They high-caliber projectiles cut through trees and bushes as they made their way to the intended target. The bullets started to rip the entire target to shreds, and they slammed into the dirt around and behind the target as well. When the dust finally settled, the whole target was gone, leaving nothing but the base that was attached to metal spring-clamps.

"Beautiful," the military man said. He walked over to the control station and watched as the two scientists began to shut the robot down. "What did you say the alternate mode was?"

"As near as we can tell, it seems to be some sort of spider-like tank," Jacobs said. "Calvin and I were attempting to reconfigure it with new transformation cogs, but nothing seemed to work properly."

The military man smiled and shook his head. "Whatever," he said. "As long as this puppy can do the job, I'm happy with that! Johansson's a fool to think that I won't use this while he sends that damn Alpha Squad to Oregon!" He looked up at the mech and smiled at the excellence of it. "How long until you can have it at Alpha's location?" he asked.

The two scientists looked at each other and thought for a moment. "Once we have everything prepped, I'd say four hours at the most, General Militan."

"Perfect," he said. He turned around and looked at the two scientists who were standing directly behind him. "Have this bastard ready and loaded up A.S.A.P." he said. "I want to give Alpha Squad some 'support' in case they run into those Transformers out there."

* * *

_Miami Collective_

O'Reiley shook his head at Captain Sorensen's comment as she pointed toward the holographic picture of Metroplex. He walked over to her and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"The thing with this bad boy is that he's already active," he said with a smile. "If Alpha Squad goes in there with guns blazing, they'll probably be dead before they come within firing distance."

Captain Sorensen closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose to help relieve the pressure from the headache that she was getting. She placed her hands on the table and looked over at O'Reiley. "So, how do we get an insertion team close enough?" she asked.

"You probably won't," O'Reiley said with a smile. "Militian has boxed off the entire quadrant of Old Oregon in hopes of securing the area." He then looked over at Captain Sorensen. "The problem is that the bastard wants to use his mussel for this one."

"Something that Admiral Johansson said at the meeting that he did _not _want to do," she said softly.

O'Reiley nodded at her comment. "Right." He pointed at the holographic image and rubbed his chin. "If I were you, I'd tell Parisi and his Alpha Squad to lay low about three to five miles out of the scan range of the city. If they stay low enough to the ground they'll be protected by the forest; the scanners won't be able to distinguish the difference between them and the trees."

Captain Sorensen nodded and looked over at O'Reiley. "What do you think will happen if they decide to engage the Transformers?"

O'Reiley laughed for a moment. He then looked over at her and smiled. "They better be able to hold their own, and they probably should bring a change of underwear too." He looked back at the image and shook his head. "These mechs aren't something to fuck with, pardon my French," he said to Captain Sorensen. "Even if they bring that bastard Transformer relic that they found years ago, I doubt that they're gonna have an easy time with them."

* * *

_Old Hawaii_

The grey ship landed on the west coast of Hawaii and dropped the anchor. Several small boats departed from the sides of the ship and streaked across the water, headed toward the sandy shore. Once the boats reached the shoreline, several soldiers jumped into the shallow water and ran straight to the beach. As they hit the sand dune, they dropped down and scanned the vicinity for anything suspicious. One of the soldiers brought out a small lap-top computer and opened it up. He scrolled down and accessed the global imaging program. He brought up a satellite image of the island and scanned for anyone else who may be on the it. After he cross-checked the entire area, he brought down a mouth piece from his headset and spoke into it.

"Sector three-three secure," he said softly. "Ready for docking."

The grey ship stood there silently as the large red and white robot blasted off the launch pad and headed toward the shore. The red lights on the heel of the robot's feet glowed as it approached the land. All of the soldiers cleared the way as the robot settled on the shore of Hawaii, throwing up dust as it landed. Once the robot set down, all of the soldiers made their way to it.

The chest area opened upward and revealed a man in a black and white flight suit. Several wires were hooked up to the helmet that he wore, making it impossible for him to leave the ship while wearing it. The pilot took off the helmet and placed it on the side consol inside of the chest cavity. A metal line dropped down in front of the pilot and he reached for it, pulling himself up and out of the seat. He placed his foot in a hoop and pressed down on it, causing the line to descend to the sand.

Once he reached the sand, he walked over to the group of soldiers and smiled at them. "Great job, men," he said in Japanese. "Hopefully by this time tomorrow, Gogyratron and I will be on the shore of Old California."

* * *

_The Nemesis_

"So yer tellin' us that the Autobots just up and left Cybertron too?" Onslaught asked. "That don't seem right."

Kross walked over to the large Combatacon and nodded at his remarks. He understood that his comrade was in stasis lock for a substantial amount of time, leaving him and the rest of his team oblivious to the events of history that had brought the race of Transformers to such a juncture.

"After the Dread War, energon was in short supply," Kross said as he walked around the Combatacons who were still plugged into rejuvenating equipment. He watched as the pink fluid flowed slowly into each of their magnificent bodies. "While the few surviving Autobots chose to leave Cybertron, and Earth as well, those left behind were forced into downsizing for the mere chance of survival." He looked at Blastoff who was tending to a joint in his right knee. "They left us all behind, casting us away to rebuild Cybertron as we saw fit in order to survive, and that we did!"

Brawl looked down at Kross and laughed. "Ha! You sound pretty arrogant for such a small mech!"

Kross quickly turned and looked at Brawl who sat there dabbling with the wire that was plugged into his wrist. He approached the Combatacon and stood next to his legs. "It would appear that our smaller stature as a substantial disadvantage from yours, but we've become quicker, smarter, and much more energy efficient than we once were!"

"I ain't buyin' it!" Onslaught added. "If you got so much slaggin' better, then why do you need us?"

Kross looked over at the squad leader and crossed his arms. "Quite simply to help destroy the Maximal's who occupy Metroplex, and to usher in a new era of control over Cybertron!"

* * *

_Cybertron _

Bloodhound quickly locked the massive door to the complex and started running down the hallway. He kept looking behind him to make sure that he was not followed. The Predacon then turned the corner and tripped over his own feet as he did so.

"Damn!" he shouted to himself. Then there was a thud on the massive door. He looked down the hallway in complete terror and pushed himself up as he knew that the door would not hold the three Transformers for much longer.

He made his way to the control room and slammed the door behind him. He then made his way to the main consol and brought the computer on-line. Bloodhound accessed the outside cameras, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary. The Predacon then activated the external defense protocols, but several of them were already terminated. He brought the internal cameras on-line and began scanning for the intruders.

"Where the hell are they?" he asked himself, and that's when he felt a hand on his right shoulder.

"Looking for us?" a female voice said.

Bloodhound was then thrown to the ground with severe force was and pinned down by the female Transformer's foot on his throat. Two more female mechs made their way over toward him and squatted down by his head. Bloodhound began grabbing at the foot that had him pinned firmly on the floor of the control room.

"So, who do we have here?" one of the female mechs said as she sat next to him. "One of Megatron's lackeys I presume."

Bloodhound stopped struggling and looked at her directly in the optics. "You can all go to hell!" he said sternly.

The trio of females all laughed at Bloodhound. The two crouching Transformers stood up and gazed down at Bloodhound who was helpless to do anything about his current situation. The female who had him pinned glared intently back at Bloodhound, sending a feeling of complete despair to his neural network.

She smiled at him and tilted her head to her right. "Tell us, Bloodhound, where has Megatron gone?"

* * *

_Old Oregon_

Parisi looked at the six mobile battle-suits and smiled at them. He watched as each of the pilots finished the daily maintenance after a quick journey as they just completed across the continent. He began walking over to the female who was plugging in a wire to a massive radar dish on the top of what seemed to be a large van.

"How's it look, Andrea?" he asked the woman.

She stood up and wiped a rag across her forehead, creating a streak of black grease as she did it. She looked down from the top of the van and smiled at Parisi. "Bat-Tac is all uploaded and ready for mission parameters, Brett," she said calmly. She then started making her way down the ladder on the side of the van. "Mobile tactical has you all marked and ready, including that _thing _Militan is sending as backup."

Brett Parisi nodded at his tactical officer's comment and began walking toward his own battle suit. "Excellent," he said. "Have the squad ready for departure as soon as our 'guest' arrives." He turned and faced the woman. "We're dealing with grade-A shit on this one, so I want everything by the books. All I's crossed and T's dotted. Think they can handle that?"

Andrea smiled at her commanding officer's statement and shook her head. "Beer in the keg, boss. Beer in the keg."

* * *

_Miles Above White Plains Nevada_

The blue pulsing sphere completely appeared out of nowhere with an intense white flash. It hovered above the clouds for a moment as it surveyed the landscape below them. It then bobbed up and down, realizing that it had finally reached the destination that it had been yearning for since it first entered the chaos of the transwarp explosion. It quickly streaked across the blue sky and began to make the new journey, hoping to locate something that was a bit more suitable for the new tasks at hand.

* * *

_Metroplex_

Prowl looked at the four large Autobots that stood there in the medical bay and smiled proudly at his friends, ones that he thought were dead for quite some time. He smiled at them and walked over to the group of massive Transformers as they attempted to assimilate all of the information about recent events in their species' history.

"So you're telling us that the Autobots are no more?" a large silver Autobot asked. "I mean, we did beat the Dread, so why are we all gone?"

Prowl sighed as he understood the difficulty of coming to terms with the fact that many of your fiends were dead or missing, something he had to deal with when he awoke as a Maximal.

"The Dread War left Cybertron in ruins, even more so than when the Heralds and Unicon attacked, Blusetreak" Prowl started. "All of the artificial Cybertrons were destroyed in an attempt to 'cleanse' the universe of Primus and his children." He began walking toward the monitor in the medial bay. "The only real solution was downsizing any surviving Transformers, thus the Maximals were born."

"And what about the rest of the Autobots?" the green Autobot asked. "I'm sure not _every _mech agreed to downsize!"

"Indeed, Springer," Swiftwing added. "Not every Autobot, or Loyalist for that matter, agreed to undergo the downsizing process." He looked over at Bluestreak who shook his head in confusion. "There were two ships of Autobots that departed Cybertron in hopes of ensuring that the Dread were extinct." He paused for a moment and gathered up some strength to continue. "They traveled in search of what was called the Hub, but we haven't heard from them in vorns."

"Sohowcomeweweren'tdownsizedaswell?" a blue Autobot said quickly.

Prowl smiled at the question and looked up. "Simple, Blurr; it's because you were left behind due to your damages, and since you were on Earth, we had no way of reaching you."

"No way of reaching us?" Bluestreak said. "Earth is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from Cybertron."

"But it was deemed off limits by the Cybertronia Pax," Prowl added. "After what happened on Nebulos, the human governments agreed that it was in Earth's best interest to cut all ties with Transformers. We were forced to leave Earth, abandoning all of our bases and technologies, and even some of our friends."

Getaway looked at the two Maximals and nodded at them. "So besides them, we're the only Autobots left?"

Prowl looked over at Swiftwing and sighed. "As near as we can tell, you guys and the two exploring crews are the last of the Autobots."

"Then what about the Loyalists who didn't downsize?" Bluestreak asked. "Where are they?"

Swiftwing approached the confused Autobot and looked into his blue optics. "That's why we're here. Kross left Cybertron hoping to gain access to the technology that was left behind when the Transformers evacuated the planet." He began walking to the computer terminal and pointed to the image of Earth on the monitor. "As you well know, Metroplex is only one of many bases, both Autobot and Decepticon, that were created here. If Kross gains access to some additional technology, he probably hopes to bring Cybertron under Predacon control."

"Predaconcontrol?" Blurr said looking at Swiftwing. "YoumeanRazorclawandhisgroup?"

"Not really," Prowl said. "The surviving Loyalists called themselves Predacons as a homage to Starscream's old faction during the Dark Ages. They also thought that it would sound a little more fearsome than the word Loyalist."

Springer smiled and looked at the group of Autobots. "So, just what do we need to do to set things right on this one?"

Prowl looked at the large Six Changer and smiled at his old friend. "We need to stop Kross with as little interaction with the human population as possible."

Bluestreak nodded and looked at Prowl. "I suppose that we should get cracking on this one, eh Prowl?"

Prowl smiled at Blustreak's enthusiasm toward the endeavor to stop Kross. It reminded him of the time that the two Autobots spent on Earth attempting to stop Megatron and his band of Decepticons. He thought about all of the obstacles that they had to overcome, and he began to wonder if bringing the Autobots into a new war was something that should have been done, or was it a decision that could have been avoided.


	8. Chapter 8

**Transformers:**

**Apocalypse Song**

_Weary of Maximal control over Cybertron, Kross and his group of renegade Predacons have traveled across the galaxy in search of lost Transformer technology that would give him an advantage in returning the balance of power over to his complete control. After failing to gain access to the Autobot city called Metroplex, he traveled to the Pacific Ocean and located the ancient Decepticon ship known as the Nemesis. As he established a base of operations on the ship, he revived the Decepticon sub-group known as the Combatacons in hopes of eliminating the Maximals._

_However, back at Metroplex, the Maximals have discovered four lost Autobots that they thought were dead. Springer, Blurr, Bluestreak, and Getaway all have be reactivated by Prowl with the hopes that they will succeed in ridding Earth of Kross._

_Meanwhile, several Earth governments have discovered that the Transformers have returned to their planet, a direct violation of the Cybertronia Pax. The shattered remains of the United States government has sent in their own team of operatives in an effort to discover what the Transformers are up to, while the Neo Tokyo governing body has launched their own operative to investigate the scene at Metroplex._

**Chapter 8:**

**Into The Fire**

_Metroplex_

The volley of cluster-rockets slammed into the southern landing pad of Metroplex, causing several emergency systems to immediately activate. The massive city started shifting walls and streets as it began to reconfigure itself for battle with the approaching enemy. Thick protective shielding slid over the many glass windows of the city, while entrance ways started sealing themselves off from potential intruders. Alarms all across the massive city continued to clamor in an effort to warn any unsuspecting individual that the city was now under attack.

Swiftwing slid down into the large chair of the command center and brought the main monitor on-line. He pulled over a small keyboard that he designed, activated the outside cameras, and brought up an image of a Scorpion Class cruiser off in the distance, steadily approaching with another shuttle nearby, although this was one that he did not recognize. Swiftwing turned to Victory who stood next to him and pointed to the defense grid computer.

"Get the defense grid-network system up and running!" he shouted over the alarm. "Kross seems to be hell bent on attacking us!"

Victory activated the city's defensive grid, causing several outside cannons and turrets to point in the direction of the approaching ships. The Maximal started targeting both shuttles, hoping to solve the issue before it became out of complete control.

"Targeting system is running, Swift!" Victory said. "We've got two incoming ships. One seems to be the ship Kross took, but I can't identify the other!"

The door to the control room opened again and in ran Prowl, accompanied by the four larger Autobots. He walked over to Swiftwing and stood by his friend. "What do we have so far?" he asked.

Swiftwing pointed to the image of the two approaching ships on the main monitor and enlarged them. "Seems we have company," he said. "We've got a positive identity on the one cruiser, but the second one. . ."

"Is Blastoff," Prowl added. He looked over at Swiftwing who became confused. "That's the Combatacon Blastoff flying next to Kross." Prowl looked up at Bluestreak and shook his head. "Kross seems to have gotten hold of something else after he failed to gain access to Metroplex!"

"The _Nemesis_," Bluestreak added. "He must have found the _Nemesis_."

Springer walked over to the monitor and pointed to it. "Yeah, well if Blastoff's with him, then guess who else will be coming to dinner."

Getaway reached for his sidearm and activated it. He looked down at Prowl and Swiftwing who continued to bring the city's weapons on-line. "That octane-knocker can outmaneuver most of Metroplex's cannons," he said. "Blastoff is a slick bastard." He smiled at the other three Autobots who stood there. "Looks like we're going to have to take care of this the old-school way!"

Swiftwing put a headset on and brought the mouthpiece down. He pressed a button on the consol and tapped the thin device. "You there, Magnus?" he said.

There was a crackle in the audio receptor, but then the transmission was clear. "Right here, Swift," the voice said. "What's the deal?"

"We have approaching Predacon activity," he said. "Prepare to engage." He turned to Prowl and rubbed his temple. "They'll be inside the defense grid in less than a few astro-seconds! What do you suggest?"

Prowl smiled and looked up at the four Autobots. "Care for a little refresher, boys?" Prowl asked.

Springer smiled and reached for the rotor-blade housed in his back. "Let's see if Kross remembers an old fashioned chassis beating like the good old orns!"

* * *

Inside of the shuttle, Kross pointed to the growing image of Metroplex. He turned and looked at Downtrodden who was piloting the ship. "Take me as close to the command station as you possibly can!" he demanded. "Our 'cargo' will help us do the rest!" 

Downtrodden turned the control wheel and avoided some laser fire from a turret below. He looked over at Kross and nodded. "As close as I can get, boss!"

Kross turned around and looked at the group of Predacons who were behind him. "Make short work of these Maximals," he said. "My friends will take care of anything else that seems to get in our way!"

He opened his wrist communicator and looked at the image of Onslaught. "Are you ready for departure?" he asked.

Onslaught grunted at Kross's question. "It's a little cramped here," he said completely aggravated. "Just let us out already!"

Kross turned his head and looked at Downtrodden. "Open the hatch!" he demanded.

The rear of the Predacon shuttle opened up and out dropped three figures, while the other began to transform. The three falling figures landed on the open platform of Metroplex and they all transformed. He fourth figure that exited the shuttle transformed in to a helicopter and made its way down to the other three vehicles who were starting to approach the main hub of the city.

"Watch for the fire from the turrets!" Onslaught said quickly. "If we split, they will have a difficult time targeting us!"

"Right with ya, boss!" the yellow jeep yelled as it started streaking away from the other two vehicles.

As the three vehicles separated, Onslaught began firing shots from his plasma cannons on the bed of his alternate mode. The laser fire streaked over the open platform and hit the first set of automated weapons. They exploded with ferocity and threw up a plume of grey and white smoke.

"Bingo!" Onslaught cried. "Brawl, head for the city and take out any defenses that you spot while Swindle and I take care of the security cameras!"

The tank turned its turret and pointed to the first street that it scanned. "Right there, Slaught!" he said.

Swindle and Onslaught began to enter the city from two different streets. The yellow jeep activated the machine gun on its back and started taking out the mounted security cameras that would give away their current position.

Above the three Combatacons, the helicopter started maneuvering through several streams of laser fire from weapon posts on the top of the buildings. The helicopter dropped straight down below their range and started firing off short bursts at the base of one of the communication towers.

"Hot damn!" it said as it avoided two more shots from another turret. "I miss these days!"

* * *

Orion Magnus sat down in the reconfigured terminal and brought the multi-barrel machine gun turret on-line. He grabbed the two handles and flipped up their tops, revealing a red trigger button on the tops. He then placed the headset on his head and brought the mouthpiece down to talk to his partner. 

"Talk to me, Liger," he said as he began raising the tower above the lip of the building's top. "Looks like we've got some company today!"

The monitor flipped up in front of Orion Magnus and activated. An image of Liger appeared. "Three targets are already in the city streets!" he yelled. "One is making its way through the top, taking out one of the communication towers!"

"Piece of cake," Orion Magnus said with a smile. "I'll take care of the flyer, you can take out any one of the other three!"

Liger shook his head at Orion Magnus. "Well, thanks a lot," he said. "Far be it from me to get the easy one."

Orion Magnus watched as the turret locked into place. He activated the maneuvering system and started turning the turret toward the approaching helicopter. He brought the multiple barrels down and started targeting the Combatacon.

"Oh, I've got you now!" he said over the sound of three explosions. He pressed down on the red buttons and unleashed a barrage of bullets at the approaching helicopter.

Vortex watched as the turret fired at him. He quickly ascended and watched as the volley streaked past him. He rotated the forward laser battery under his cockpit and opened fire on the tower.

"Nice try, scrapling!" he yelled.

Orion Magnus quickly rotated the tower into the direction of Vortex and watched as the laser fire slammed against the protective shielding of the tower. He grunted as the force of the laser fire shook the tower, but he quickly re-targeted the Combatacon and let off another blast of gunfire.

* * *

The Scorpion Class shuttle dropped down deployed the landing gears. As the shuttle landed, a side hatch opened. Several Predacons started running down the ramp and began heading toward the streets of the city, hoping to find cover and a way into the complex's inner workings of the city. 

"See if you can give Blastoff some support," Kross yelled into his wrist communicator. "But make sure that the ship stays in tact!"

The shuttle immediately lifted up off of the ground and started streaking over the tops of the city buildings. "Understood, Kross," Downtrodden said as he began turning the shuttle around for another pass over the city.

Kross looked at Weasel and Fearswoop who were running next to him. "You two take the left and see if you can hack into the main network!"

Weasel nodded at Kross and quickly pointed to a hanger. "Let's try there!" he shouted to Fearswoop.

Fearswoop turned his head and looked at his partner. "I doubt that we're going to. . ."

"Just follow me, dammit!" Weasel shouted.

Kross watched as Heatwave and Antagony began taking out several cameras that would give away their location. He pulled his E.M.P. caster from his back and started targeting some of the cameras as well.

* * *

Blastoff watched as two of his shots hit the command station directly in its front. He veered to his left to avoid some additional cannon fire, but got off three more shots at the command station. 

"This isn't as much fun as it was without the Autobots here," he said.

There was a crackle in his internal communication array, and an image of Brawl's head appeared on the control monitor. "Just remember that the last time we did a stunt like this we ended up in stasis lock!"

Blastoff turned and shot straight up into the air to avoid more laser fire. "Don't remind me," he said to Brawl. "I'm still reeling from that bout with Sky Lynx!"

* * *

_The Outlying Forest_

_South Side_

Parisi looked into the vid-binoculars and shook his head. He watched as the Combatacons continued to attack the city while the turrets had a difficult time getting a positive lock onto such small targets. He placed the binoculars by his side and looked at the female who was sitting next to him.

"Seems that the Autobots are having some difficulty with the attackers," he said calmly.

The female finished braiding her second pigtail. She looked over at Parisi and smiled. "The briefing from O'Reiley said that Metroplex has trouble with smaller targets." She looked back at the others who were standing by their battle suits. "Although, there's plenty of manual weaponry that should do the trick."

Parisi nodded and pulled the binoculars back to his eyes. "Is everything prepped, Andrea?" he asked the female.

She nodded at him and adjusted her headset. "The team's ready for departure, and so is that thing Militan sent."

"Good," Parisi said. "All I want is to observe the situation. I really don't want to go into _that _kind of shit out there!"

* * *

_The Outlaying Forest_

_North Side_

The man brought all of the internal computers on-line. He smiled at the monitor as he saw the events transpire inside the workings of Metroplex. He watched as the Combatacons tore through the city, avoiding the laser fire from Metroplex's automated defenses. He turned his head and activated the external cameras, as well as the optical-driver that displayed the line-of-sight for the massive robot. He watched intently as all of the lights turned from red to yellow, and then to green. The man then looked up at the picture of his wife and two children on the beach. He smiled and began to rotate the massive arm-mounted cannon on-line, preparing to engage the Transformers.

* * *

_Metroplex_

Prowl, Swiftwing, and Victory all ran outside of the command station, making sure to avoid being spotted by Blastoff. They ran for the cover of the next building and spotted two Predacons approaching.

"Looks like we've got some company, Prowl," Victory said.

Prowl grabbed his sidearm and pointed at the two Predacons. "Lets' move it!"

Antagony smiled as she saw the three Maximals approach her. She placed her hands close together and watched as the Maximals started making their way toward her. "This should be lovely," she said to herself.

Blue and white electricity began to emanate from her fingertips. She started to pull her hands away from each other, and the electricity began to concentrate into a small sphere in the middle of her chest. It started to pulse, giving off blue sparkles. She watched as the Maximals ran for cover.

"Look out!" Victory yelled.

Antagony quickly took the blue and white ball of electricity and pushed it at the Maximals. The energy sphere streaked across the deck of Metroplex and hit the ground between Prowl and Swiftwing, sending the two Maximals flying.

Antagony laughed to herself as she raised her arms toward the downed Maximals. "Almost too easy!" Electricity shot out from her fingertips and headed toward the two downed Maximals. Both prowl and Swiftwing managed to get up in time to avoid being electrocuted.

A scowl came across Antagony's face as she watched the Maximals avoid her initial attacks. "Damn Maximals!" she yelled.

Swiftwing transformed into his hawk mode and soared into the sky, making sure to avoid being spotted by Blastoff or Antagony. He flew over the open deck of Metroplex and saw Heatwave taking cover from on of the turrets. Swiftwing transformed and landed on a rooftop.

The Maximal took out his sniper rifle and took aim at the hiding Predacon. He adjusted the targeting nob on the side of the weapon, and placed the cross-hairs above Heatwave's shoulder. He squeezed the trigger and watched at the Predacon winced in agony from the wound.

"Bingo," Swiftwing said. He took aim at the Predacon again, but this time he targeted his right knee. He pulled the trigger again and watched as the Predacon reached for the wound in his knee.

Disgusted with his current situation, Heatwave transformed into his dragon mode and unleashed an audio-piercing screech from the dragon's two heads. He targeted the automated turret, and fired several balls of plasma from his mouths, quickly making short work of the weapon post. He then turned both heads around and fired randomly at the tops of the buildings.

Swiftwing ducked behind the lip of the roof, avoiding a volley of plasma from Heatwave. The Maximal stood up, but he was immediately thrown across the top of the roof by one of the impacts from Blastoff's cannon.

"Insignificant germ!" Blastoff said. Two rockets dropped out from below Blastoff, and they streaked across the sky heading straight toward the roof where Swiftwing was located.

The Maximal transformed and took off, avoiding the blast radius from the impact by the two rockets. He watched as the top of the building came crashing down by Heatwave's side. The Predacon fired off three more shots at Swiftwing, but he managed to outmaneuver them.

* * *

Orion Magnus fired at Vortex again and watched as the helicopter avoided yet another shot from the Maximal. 

"Damn!" he yelled at himself. "Can't I get anything done today?"

Liger's face appeared on the monitor and smiled at the young Maximals. "Take your time, Magnus," he said. "These bastards are good, but not better than you or me."

Orion Magnus smiled at his friend's comment. "Gotcha, Liger," he said. He looked back at Vortex and targeted him again. The Maximal disengaged the firing mechanism that allowed only small bursts, thereby enabling Orion Magnus to unleash the full force of the weapon post.

"See you in hell," Orion Magnus said.

The barrels of the tower fired at Vortex and did not stop. The Combatacon lifted into the air hoping that he could drop back down and target the tower, but he was surprised to learn that the rain of bullets did not stop.

"Oh shit!" Vortex yelled as he started to avoid the shots from the tower.

Orion Magnus started moving the tower all around in an effort to hit the Combatacon. He watched intently as the bullets streaked across the sky and into the horizon over Southern forest. He continued to fire at the running Combatacon until something shook the tower.

In the middle of the open deck stood a white and orange robot roughly the same size as either an Autobot or Decepticon. It had a large arm-mounted cannon on its right arm, along with a long blade that protruded from the top of the wrist. The head module turned and looked in the direction of both Orion Magnus and Vortex.

"Transformers!" the robot squawked. "You are all in direct violation of the Cybertronia Pax, and are hereby placed under direct arrest by the Neo-Tokyo Command!"

"What the hell?" Liger said to Orion Magnus. "Is this guy for real or something?"

Orion Magnus looked at the image of Liger and shook his head. "I have no idea, L."

* * *

_The Outlying Forest_

_South Side_

Parisi rubbed his head as he ran to his battle suit. He looked over his shoulder and saw the rest of his team load into their own suits. He climbed the ladder that leaned against the gigantic heavily-armored battle suit, and sat in the seat. He pulled the harness over his chest and locked it into position. He pressed several buttons on the left arm rest, casuing the chest-area of the robot-like suit to drop down and slide into position. He entire cockpit lit up with green lights as the entire battle suit came on-line. An image of the line-of sight view appeared on a holographic image in front of Parisi. He looked to his right and saw an image of a woman in the small monitor.

"Everybody ready, Andrea?" he asked.

The woman nodded and looked at Parisi. "Seems so," she said. She turned her attention to other monitors that were off camera, and then looked back at Parisi. "The who team is go-one, including the mech from Militan."

"Great," Parisi said. "No heroics on this one, kiddies!" Parisi commanded. "Gogyratron may or may not be with us on this one, but the fact is that he's operating on _our _soil _without _proper authorization, so don't count on him to be a chum!"

The entire team activated their anti-gravitational turbines and lifted off over the treetops. They the made their way to the battle scene that was forming on the deck of Metroplex.

* * *

_Metroplex_

Vortex transformed and landed on one of the nearby roofs. He took out his sidearm and pointed it at the massive robot who was standing out in the open. "Get lost!" he said as he fired at the robot.

Gogyratron saw the Transformer fire the weapon. He leapt into the air and targeted the Combatacon with its massive cannon. He locked onto Vortex, and then he fired.

The blue beam of energy streaked toward Vortex. The Combatacaon ran to the edge of the building and jumped off of it. The impact of the shot destroyed the top of the building, and the force of the blast threw Vortex against the side of another building. The Combatacon slammed off of the ground face first, cracking part of his optic visor. He shook his head, sending shards of optical glass as he did so, and pushed himself upward to a standing position. Vortex, realizing that he was no match for the giant mech, ducked around the corner to avoid being spotted by either the giant robot or the turret.

"Um, we've got company here," Vortex said into his wrist communicator.

An image of Kross appeared and looked directly at Vortex. "What is it _now_?" he demanded.

Vortex turned his head to make sure that he was not spotted. "Looks like the human germs have sent a welcoming party for us!"

"**_WHAT_**!" Kross yelled. "The humans are _here_?"

"Yeah," Vortex said. "And they're pissed!"

* * *

Liger looked out of the cockpit window and watched as the massive robot landed back on the ground. "Who the hell is that?" he said. 

"Who knows," Orion Magnus's voice called from the communicator. "But he took down the entire top of the building!"

Liger sat back in his chair and began rotating the tower toward the large robot. "I don't think he's here for laughs, Magnus." The turret locked into position and brought the robot into the view-scope. Liger activated the targeting computer, making sure to lock onto the large mech. "Time to see what he's made of!"

Gogyratron quickly turned his head and jumped into the air, avoiding the laser fire from Liger's tower. He landed on the other end of the deck and brought his cannon upward, pointing it at the tower. Inside the robot, the pilot sighed as he knew that his mission objectives were clear; destroy any Transformer who resists apprehension.

Liger watched as the cannon began to amass power to destroy the tower. He watched as a sphere of blue plasma energy began to engorge at the tip of the cannon. As he came to grips with the fact that the mech was targeting the tower, he got out of his chair and ran out of the cockpit. liger shoved open the door and jumped off of teh cockpit. The Maximal turnd his head and watched in awe as the mech fired the blue plasma beam at the tower. The blast from the impact against the tower threw Liger end over end across the rooftop. He slid against the ventilation duct and created a dent in it. He then shook his head and gazed back at the mech.

"That puppy means business," he said to himself.

* * *

Onslaught transformed and crouched down against the side of the building. He squinted at the sight of the large robot and attempted to recognize who it was. He demagnetized his rifle and aimed at the large robot. 

"Who's that, boss?" a voice called from behind Onslaught.

Taken by complete surprise, Onslaught accidently fired at the robot, missing it entirely. Onslaught turned around and saw Brawl and Swindle crouched down next to each other.

_"IDIOTS_!" the Combatacon leader yelled. "I missed that thing out there!"

"But what is it?" Swindle asked.

"Yeah," Brawl added. "I ain't ever seen that before."

Onslaught shook his head and peered around the corner. His optics grew wide as he saw the large mech walking toward the gathered Combatacons. Onslaught stood up and started running down the alley. "_MOVE IT_!"

* * *

Kross looked out and saw Gogyratron approach the Combatacons. He shook his head in disgust as yet another one of his plans started falling apart. He opened up his wrist communicator and spoke into it. "Where are you, Weasel?" he asked. 

An image of Weasel appeared through the initial static. "We're in one of the hangers," he said. "Fearswoop and I are. . ."

"Forget it!" he yelled. "We're going to need backup! We've got an unexpected visitor here!"

Suddenly, Kross was tackled from behind. He went sailing across the floor and slammed into the side of a wall, along with his attacker. He turned his head and saw the Maximal who attacked him.

"Prowl!" Kross scolded. "You're a fool to think. . ."

"Oh, shut up!" Prowl yelled. The Maximal pulled back and hit Kross in the optic. Kross's head slammed off of the ground from the force of Prowl's punch. Kross brought his legs up to his chest and shoved Prowl off of his chassis, sending the Maximal falling backwards.

Kross stood up and opened his wrist communicator. "Onslaught!" he yelled. "Take care of business!"

* * *

On the other end of Metroplex, Onslaught nodded and glared back at Swindle who was running from the falling building that Gogyratron blasted in an effort to shoot the Combatacon. "Pathetic," he said. He looked up into the sky and saw Blastoff headed in his direction. He opened his wrist communicator and spoke into it. "Combatacons!" he yelled. "Combine!" 

The four Combatacons made their way toward Onslaught's location. Swindle, Vortex, and Brawl immediately transformed into their alternate modes, while Blastoff converged to the location. Onslaught leapt into the air and started glowing blue. His arms folded away and his feet sank into his legs. Brawl and Swindle made their way to Onslaught's legs, and began to reconfigure themselves. Their alternate modes attached to Onslaught's legs, and feet slid out from what looked like legs.

Finally, Vortex and Blastoff approached the shoulder's of Onslaught. Each of them began to transform to form what looked like arms. Once they attached themselves to Onslaught, hands and fingers pushed out from the large arm-like appendages.

There was a growl that came from deep within Onslaught's chest, and several metal plates began to wrap around his head. Finally, after all of the metal was magnetically locked into place, the optic visor slid down and began to glow red demonstrating that there was life behnd the heavy metal plating. The abomination gave off a roar from its mouthplate as it clenched its fists. It stomped on the ground twice in a display of power and turned its attention toward the orange and white robot.

Kross stood there and smiled as he heard the Combatacons combine into his ultimate weapon. He turned and looked at Prowl who also understood what just happened.

"Foolish throwback!" Kross yelled at Prowl. "You will all know the might of _Bruticus_!"


	9. Chapter 9

**Transformers:**

**Apocalypse Song**

_Kross has unleashed an attack on Metroplex. In an attempt to regain some of the technology buried deep within the city, Kross revived the Combatacons as soldiers for his personal war against the Maximals. The Maximals, under the leadership of Prowl, had difficulty fending off the combined forces of the Predacons and Combatacons, allowing them to enter the city's main structure. _

_Meanwhile, Gogyratron, Neo-Tokyo's robot-like one man military unit, approached the battling Transformers in an attempt to bring them all to justice. While it appeared that he had a slight advantage over the Combatacons through the element of surprise, he was totally unprepared for the combined abomination known as Bruticus._

**Chapter 9:**

**All Hell**

_Metroplex_

White energy coalesced at the tip of the particle beam cannon attached to the robot's right arm. The barrel was split into three sections allowing for the energy to build to full capacity. The massive robot lifted its arm and pointed the cannon at the monolithic gestalt that stood on the far side of the deck.

Inside of the robot, the pilot smiled at the sight of the combiner that stood in front of him. He checked the energy readout of the cannon and watched as it continued to rise. "Give my regards to whatever abomination you call God!" he said into the speaker.

At the opposite end of the deck, the combiner clenched its fists and slammed them into the side of a building as he heard the robot speak. Bruticus then looked back at Gogyratron and became fixated on the robot.

Ignoring the display of machismo by the Combatacon, Gogyratron fired off a single blast from its arm cannon at the rampaging gestalt, positive that it would damage, if not destroy, the monstrosity. The white-hot beam streaked across the deck of Metroplex and hit the combiner squarely in the chest, causing it to step backward from the force of the impact. White electricity seemed to snap and crackle all around the frame of Bruticus while there was a distinct smell of ozone in the air. The mighty Combatacon stood there momentarily and shook its head as it began to refocus its rage at Gogyratron.

Gogyratron took its feet and stepped backward as the pilot realized that his initial shot did little more than agitate Bruticus. The pilot began to target the gestalt again, hoping to do more harm by hitting it squarely in the same location a second time. The pilot of the mech began to frantically make sure that all weapon-system energy was diverted to the forward particle beam cannon. He watched through the line-of-sight monitor as the combiner shook its head and gazed back at the mech with a look of absolute hatred in its crimson optics.

_What in the name of God is this thing? _the pilot thought to himself. He began to desperately grasp at the navigational controls as he realized that he was totally unprepared to deal with a Transformer of this severe magnitude. He began uploading new instructions for the battle suit, hoping to override the C.P.U.'s initial program of system-power management.

Bruticus roared violently at the mech that shakily stood in front of him. He slammed his fists on the ground in complete anger as he continued to focus it on the robot. He took two steps forward and gave off a low growl that seemed to shake the entire deck of Metroplex.

"Stupid robot!" Bruticus bellowed. "You must die!"

Across Metroplex, Kross nodded at the sheer sight of Bruticus, giving him a sense of satisfaction. He began to remember the fear that the mighty gestalt instilled in those who dared to oppose him. He turned around and watched as Prowl opened up his wrist communicator.

"Don't be an idiot, Prowl," Kross said politely. "Bruticus is more powerful than you can dare remember! Your pathetic band of Maximals are useless against a Transformer of his _excellence_."

Prowl looked at the image of Swiftwing in the monitor. "Do you scan what I'm seeing now?" he asked frantically. "We've got Bruticus here!"

"Shit!" Swiftwing replied. "I knew something was going to go to slag real quick with those damn Combatacons!"

"Right," Prowl responded. "Let's round up the Predacons and see if we can do something about Bruticus!"

Swiftwing smiled at Prowl. "You got it, but what the hell is that thing out there with Brute?"

Prowl shrugged his shoulders at Swiftwing's question. "Primus knows," he said. "Let's just focus on our job."

Suddenly, the image on the monitor split and Springer's face appeared. He smiled at Prowl and nodded at him. "Let _us _deal with Bruticus," he said. "I think we'll try and shake some of the rust off of our chassis."

Prowl smiled at the image of his friend. "You got it, Springer." He closed the monitor and looked at Kross who was watching Bruticus approach Gogyratron.

"Magnificent, isn't it Prowl," he said. He turned around and looked at the Maximal commanding officer. "In all this time that we've been away from our _true _selves, I somehow forgot just how _glorious _we once were."

Prowl took out his sidearm and pointed it at Kross's head module. "Forget it, Kross," Prowl said. "Your orns of running free on Earth are over."

Kross laughed for a moment and gazed back at Prowl. "Insolent Maximal," he said as his laughter subsided. "You've failed to comprehend the true _power _that I intend on harvesting here!"

* * *

Victory ducked behind the corner of a building as the electricity from Antagony charred the ground next to him. He took out his sidearm and turned off the safety. He could smell the melting metal of Metroplex, causing him to cover his nose with his right hand. 

The female Predacon smiled to herself as she walked toward the corner where she had the Maximal pinned down. She began to focus the electricity from her fingertips into another sphere of energy. Her smile grew as she felt the warmth of her creation in front of her as she gazed at the corner.

"Foolish child," she said to Victory who was still hiding behind the corner. "No amount of cowardly actions can save you now."

Her voice was soothing, almost as if she was trying to comfort Victory in a time of need; it was unliek anything teh Maximal had ever heard before. Victory felt calm as he listened to Antagony speak to him. He took his hand away from his nose and nodded at the words the Predacon spoke.

"It's okay to die, Maximal," Antagony said again. "Death is something every mech must endure, even the likes of you."

realizing that she was correct, Victory opened up his thigh compartment and put his weapon back into its holster. He smiled to himself and knew that it was his time to die. He no longer had a desire to survive, instead he welcomed the notion of death with a sense of clarity that he had never had before.

Antagony smiled as she watched Victory step out from the corner. Her uncanny ability to coax her prey into her traps made her one of the deadliest Predacons on Cybertron. Her vocal processor was reconfigured to send out audio waves that could compromise the logic circuits of most Transformers, thereby brainwashing them to do her bidding.

"Sweet, sweet Maximal," she said to Victory who stood there smiling at her. "It's all over now."

Suddenly, the ground in front of Antagony exploded, throwing her backward and causing her to launch the plasma sphere into the air. She slammed into the ground and slid into the side of another building. She shook her head as she attempted to re-calibrate her location.

_"Damn_!" she shouted. She looked back at Victory and sneered at the Maximal. "What the hell went wrong?"

Swiftwing landed on the ground where she once stood and gazed back at the female Predacon. "You know something, witch," he said to Antagony as he pointed his grenade launcher at her. "You better watch your back the next time you try to screw around with a Maximal!"

Swiftwing fired off another blast from his weapon at Antagony. The female Predacon rolled away from where she was and transformed into her alternate mode. The black hover-car revved her engine and sped away from the two Maximals.

Swiftwing looked back at Victory and grabbed the sides of his head. He gazed into his optics and knew that he had been brainwashed by Antagony's vocal processor. No longer were his optics blue, instead they were now yellow, indicating that his logic driver was compromised by Antagony's vocal waves.

"You okay in there," Swiftwing asked Victory as he knocked on the top of his head module. "That _bitch _has a way with words."

Suddenly, Victory's optics went from yellow to snow. The Maximal shook his head, and then his optics quickly went back to blue. He gazed back at Swiftwing who was still holding Victory by the sides of his head. He smiled at his friend placed his hands on his hips.

"I didn't know you cared so much, Swift!" Victory said.

* * *

Bruticus leaned over and fired off two rounds from the cannon attached to his back. They gave off a plume of gray smoke as they launched from the monsterouos weapon. The rockets streaked across the white deck of Metroplex and headed straight toward the mechanized battle suit known as Gogyratron. 

Suddenly, a smaller mech jumped out in front of the projectiles and threw its hands in front of his body. A blue sphere immediately began to encompass both the mech and Gogyratron. The missiles violently slammed into the sphere and were immediately destroyed.

The communication monitor inside of Gogyratron turned on and the pilot saw a familiar face. He smiled and nodded at the man that he knew all too well. "Parisi," the pilot said. "There's no end to your surprises."

The monitor showed Parisi looking back at the pilot and he smiled at him. "Hiro Takonoki," he said calmly. "Do you realize that your on _U.S._ soil without _proper _government authorization?"

Hiro smiled back at Parisi and shook his head. "Do you think that I _want _to be here in the middle of all this slop?"

Parisi nodded and rubbed the helmet on the top of his head. "That pretty much figures." He looked at his outside display monitor and saw Bruticus headed straight toward them. "I have no clue what that this thing is, but I suggest that we get outta here in a hurry!"

Hiro smiled and pulled back on the navigational controls causing Gogyratron to step backwards. "I'd have to agree with that one."

Parisi opened up another communication channel with the mobile command base stationed off in the forest. The image of a female appeared on the monitor and Parisi looked at her. "Andrea, give me the status of the team."

The female rubbed the bridge of her nose and then brought down the mouthpiece that was attached to the headphones she was wearing. "The team's scattered across the complex," she said. "That thing we brought along is making its way through the city streets too."

"Swell," Parisi said with a hint of sarcasm. "Round them up A.S.A.P. Hiro and I are taking off _now_!"

Gogyratron and Parisi's mech started slowly backing away from Bruticus. The massive gestalt gave out another thunderous roar as he watched the two mobilized battle suits begin to retreat from the battle. He clenched his fists and started running toward them.

Suddenly, another smaller green and grey mech leapt out in-between Bruticus and the two other battle suite mechs. He lifted up his two arms and pointed two massive arm-mounted machine guns at the approaching Combatacon. There were steady bright flashes of orange and yellow as the weapon on the mech fired directly at the Combatacon's chest, causing him to pause in his approach toward the trio.

"That's the ticket," the speaker-box uttered from the smaller mech. "See what you can do with this!"

Parisi's mech turned around and grabbed Gogyratron by the arm and began heading off of the platform where they had engaged Bruticus. "Cordero has this one," he said to Hiro. "He'll lay down some cover for us while we _book_!"

Hiro looked at the image of the smaller mech who continued to fire at the large Combiner. He smiled to himself and then turned his attention to the monitor that displayed Parisi's face. "Just how the hell do you plan on getting us out of this one?" he asked.

Parisi smiled back at Hiro and nodded at him. "I've got this one covered, Hiro. Don't you worry about that!"

Cordero's mech continued to suppress the Combatacon long enough to let Parisi and Gogyratron make it off of the platform where they once were. Inside of the suite, a bald man watched a gauge as round after round continued to disappear rapidly from the cartridge of high-caliber bullets. He smiled to himself as he watched the Combiner pause for a moment.

"Easy shit," he said to himself. "I thought that Transformers were supposed to be this bad-ass crap!"

* * *

Kross glared back at Prowl with his single optic. He watched as the Maximal continued to make his way toward him. He sized up the Maximal commander and shook his head as Prowl continued to hold his weapon at Kross's head module. 

"It's over, Kross," Prowl said sternly at the rogue Predacon. "Bruticus isn't this 'all powerful' Decepticon that you thought he was when you last stepped foot on Earth."

Kross understood that Prowl was attempting to bait him into surrendering without conflict. He took one step backward and focused on Prowl's optics. "Perhaps you are right about Bruticus," he said softly. "After all, if he was indeed as powerful as I remembered, he would have crushed those two cheap imitations of Cybertronians easily."

Prowl stood there and continued to point his weapon at Kross. " Your best bet is to quit while you're ahead of the game, Kross." He motioned over at Bruticus with his head as he stared back at Kross's single optic. "We'll have this wrapped up in no time."

Kross began to laugh at Prowl's words, causing the Maximal to tighten his grip on his weapon. Kross placed his hands on his side and shook his head at the Maximal. "I think you forgot just who you are dealing with, Maximal!"

Suddenly Kross lunged forward without warning, knocking the rifle out from Prowl's hand. The Maximal went falling backward, and Kross leapt on top of him. The two Transformers went rolling across the ground and slammed into the side of a building. Kross took his hands and wrapped them around Prowl's throat.

"This, my dear Maximal _lackey_, is your _first _reminder of who I am, and who I will become!" Kross began to squeezed his hands tighter, causing Prowl to wince in pain. Kross peered down at the Maximal's optics and nodded at him. "Oh yes, dear Prowl. This is but a simple reminder!"

Prowl snickered back at Kross's comment. He took his right hand and punched Kross in his single optic, causing the Predacon to release his vice-like grip from Prowl. Prowl then took his other hand and punched Kross in the side of the head, thus causing the Predacon to fall off from on top of him.

Prowl stood up and grabbed Kross by his arm. "Time to take out the trash, Kross!" Prowl then tossed Kross out into the open deck of Metroplex. Kross skidded against the highly polished deck, creating red and orange sparks as he did so. Prowl then ran over toward Kross, leapt into the air, and landed elbow first on top of the Predacon. "Why don't we skip to the point of toady's lesson, eh Kross?"

* * *

Fearswoop and Weasel watched as Bruticus continued to make his way toward the three mechs out in the open of Metroplex. They saw Kross on the opposite end of the deck as well. Both of them turned to each other and wondered if they should go out and help their leader. 

"One of us should go out there," Fearswoop said to Weasel.

The cowardly Predacon quickly turned his attention toward Fearswoop. "Since you're so eager to go out there, why don't you go give it a shot!"

Suddenly, there was a loud thud inside of the hanger. Both Predacons turned around and watched as the door to the hanger began to slide open. Both Fearswoop and Weasel then scampered off to opposite sides of the hanger, attempting to hide from whomever was entering the room.

Out from the door came four large robots. Each of them strode vibrantly and full of life as they made their way out of the doorway and through the hanger. As they walked by the two cowering Predacons, both Fearswoop and Weasel noticed the red insignia that happened to be branded in several places on each of the mechs. They watched in fear as the four Transformers made their way out of the hanger and into the open deck of Metroplex.

Fearswoop and Weasel then came out of hiding and looked at each other with a complete look of surprise. Between the two of them, only Fearswoop could make out a single word from the fear that choked his vocal processor.

"Autobots?"

* * *

The smaller mech continued to hold Bruticus at bay for a brief moment. The pilot continued to watch as the Combiner seemed to be taken back by the actions of a single mech that was about one-third its size. Then, realizing that he may be wasting more ammunition than necessary, the pilot ceased all firing from both of the arm-mounted machine guns. 

Bruticus couched there silently for a moment, and then looked over toward the green mech. In one swift stroke, he reached out with his massive hand and grabbed the entire mech. Bruticus stood up and watched as the smaller mech began to attempt to free himself from Bruticus's grip.

"Stupid machine," Bruticus said. "Now you must be destroyed!"

Just then, there was a quick gust of air that seemed to quickly blow by Bruticus. The massive gestalt paused for a moment and attempted to locate the source. He turned his head to the left, but then there was a gust at his right side. Aggravated, he turned his head to the right, and then the gust blew by his left again. The mighty Combiner stood up and watched as a streak of blue and gray continued to make circles around him.

Enraged, Bruticus took the mech and placed it in his left hand. He then took his right hand and slammed it into the deck of Mextroplex, hoping to stop the source of the blur.

"Stop your running!" Bruticus said.

Suddenly the streak stopped. Bruticus frantically looked around for something that could be the cause of his anger. Finally, he let out a roar as he became frustrated with his situation.

Then, there was a chuckle from behind the leg of the Combiner. Bruticus turned around and saw a slender blue and grey Transformer bending over and laughing at the sight of Bruticus.

"Youreallyneedtocalmdaownbeforeyoublowagasket," the Transformer said.

Bruticus lifted his leg up and slammed it back down on the ground where the robot stood. He ground his foot into the deck making sure that he squashed the Transformer completely. Then, Bruticus heard more laughter from behind him.

"IsthatanywaytotreatafellowTransformer?" the robot said.

The gestalt turned around and gazed intently at the small mech that he thought he had squashed with his heel. "Stand still," Bruticus said.

"That's not his style," a voice called from behind Bruticus.

The massive gestalt turned around and saw two more robots standing there. The Combiner stood up straight and glared back at the two Transformers. Then, he saw something that made him pause for a moment. He noticed the red symbols on their chests, and he stepped backward for a moment.

"Autobots?" he said. "Autobots here?"

* * *

Kross paused as he heard the words being uttered from Bruticus. He activated his magnification array and saw the three robots off in the distance. He then noticed the red insignias that each of them wore, and he knew that the situation had gotten worse for him. 

"Autobots?" he yelled. He then turned toward Prowl and glared back at the Maximal. "How the hell did Autobots get here!"

Prowl lifted up his arm and pointed his weapon at Kross. "I guess that you're not as bright when it comes to our past as you like to think."

Just then, a wave of bullets separated both Prowl and Kross. Prowl shielded his optics from the debris that was created by the barrage of bullets, while Kross rolled in the opposite direction.

The two mechs watched as a orange and black robot landed in-between the two of them. Both Prowl and Kross looked on as the robot began to stand up straight. They made no sudden movement as the robot continued to target both Transformers; eight leg-like appendages acted as machine guns and pointed at both Transformers.

Prowl squinted for a moment as he began to wonder where he recognized this mech before, but it took Kross only a split second to realize who was standing in-between him and Prowl.

"Tarantulas?" Kross said. "Is that you?"

* * *

Re-calibration: required 

System Neural Network Grid: Compromised

Re-routing Neural Network Grid Alignment

System Failure

errorerrorerrorerrorerrorerror

errorerrorerrorerrorerrorerror

errorerrorerrorerrorerrorerror

errorerrorerrorerrorerrorerror

* * *

_Where am I? _

_Why can't I move? _

_Is that. . . Kross?

* * *

_

Prowl wasted no time. He pointed his weapon at the orange and black mech and fired off at full power. The blast from the weapon sent the mech backward and off of the deck of Metroplex. The mech went tumbling down the embankment and rolled down to the bottom of the ravine.

At that moment, Kross lunged at Prowl and knocked him to the ground. The Predacon punched Prowl in the face and stood up. He opened up a communication link with the rest of the Predacons and Bruticus as he began running down the street.

"Let's cut our losses today, kiddies," he said. "There's a little too much here than meets the optic." He paused for a moment and looked back at Prowl who was getting up. "Downtrodden, get the ship up and running!"

"Yes sir," Downtrodden's voice crackled over the link.

"Bruticus, drop that toy of yours and have Blastoff and Vortex get the rest of us out of here."

"But what about the Maximals and the data we're after," Antagony said frantically. "We haven't come all this way to. . ."

"_Shut up witch_!" Kross yelled as he watched Bruticus drop the green mech. "I highly doubt that we're ready to deal with the likes of several Autobots!"

"The Autobots have come back?" Heatwave said over the communication link. "But I thought that they. . ."

"Who cares," Weasel nervously said. "I say that we. . . "

"All of you just _shut up_!" Kross exclaimed. "Meet on the south end of Metroplex while the Combatacons depart via their own means!"

Off in the distance, Bruticus sepearated into his five original components. As each Combaticon fell to the ground. They transformed into their alternate modes and headed off in the direction of the Predacon ship. Blastoff skimmed the surface of Metroplex and soared up into the air, while Vortex took off and made his way over the tree line.

The four Autobots stood there and watched as the Combaticons scurried away. Each of them looked at each other and smiled as they understood that they had completed their mission with little effort on their part.

The shuttle landed on the deck of Metroplex and dropped the docking ramp to the ground. The Predacons began running up the ramp and inside of the ship. Kross looked at each of the Predacons and began to wonder what went wrong.

"DAMN!"

* * *

At the bottom of the ravine, the orange and black mech laid there and made no effort to move. It laid motionless as the last of the dust settled on its frame. 

Quietly, a blue and white sphere gently made its way down on top of the robot. It stayed motionless for a moment, and then it slammed into the chest cavity of the robot. There was streams of white electricity that wrapped around the robot as the mech went into convulsions. As the sphere became absorbed into the robot, the orange and black mech seemed to writhe in pain more and more as it continuously clawed at its chest.

Then, there was silence as the optics went completely black.

* * *

Parisi and the rest of his team landed off in the forest with Gogyratron. Each ofthe pilots disembarked from their mech and began preppeing them for immediate departure. Parisi walked over to Cordero's mech and placed his hand on his friend's shoulder. 

"Thanks, C," he said.

Cordero nodded and looked up at his damaged battle suit. "That's the break I get," he said as he pointed to the suit. "Next time, I want your ass to save me!"

Parisi looked over his shoulder at Hiro who was rubbing his forehead. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing here?" he asked.

Hiro smiled and rubbed his chin. "Defecting."

Andrea ran down the ramp of the mobile command center and shook her head. "You know that monstrosity that we brought along with us," she said. "It's gone!"

"Gone?" Parisi said. "How the hell do you loose something like that?"

Andrea smiled and held up a small silver diskette. "Would you believe a _memory flashback_?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Transformers:**

**Apocalypse Song**

_Kross failed in his attack on the Autobot city known as Metroplex. Realizing that the Maximals somehow had made contact with some surviving Autobots, Kross retreated back to his hideout in the Pacific Ocean where he broods over his recent failure._

_The Neo-Tokyo mobilized battle mech known as Gogyratron has been brought into the custody of the United States government, due in large part to the pilot, Hiro Takonoki defecting from the corrupt government._

_However, lost in all of the confusion was the slight possibility that a longtime Predacon agent has recently resurfaced on Earth. Believed to be lost for little over one Earth year, the Predacon Tarantulas has finally awaken._

**Chapter 10:**

**Ghosts From The Past**

_Five Years Into The Second Beast War_

_Circa 70,000 years B.C. _

The walls to the complex began to crumble around the two Maximal agents as they desperately made their attempt to escape from the mountain base. The gray and white Maximal leader wedged his large body against the thick door as he held it open for his female companion. She hurried through the room and dodged heavy chunks of rock that dropped from the collapsing ceiling as the mountain began to fall apart.

"_Come on_, Liberty!" the large Maximal shouted over the thunder of rock hitting the floor. He stood there in a majestic form as he used every ounce of his strength to keep the automated door from sealing her inside the room. "Those damn Predacons were _right _about this one!"

The red female Maximal finally stepped past the larger Maximal in a delicate fashion and got out of his way. She watched as he slid from behind the thick door to let it slam shut with authority. "Hard to believe the Predacons would tip us off on this one, huh Gray Wolf?"

The door closed with a loud thud and magnetically locked itself shut. Gray Wolf sighed and shook his head as he looked at the door. "Usually the truth doesn't seem to be a strong suit for the Predacons, but they nailed this one right to the wall!" He turned around and looked at the smaller Maximal. "Was there any sign of Ravage back there?"

Liberty shook her head and paused for a moment, realizing that they left behind the only Predacon that they actually trusted. "No," she said softly. A feeling of compassion overcame her neural network as she thought for a moment. "He shoved me past the wall as it fell, and then I lost sight of him."

Gray Wolf clenched his fists and began walking down the hall. "Damn it to hell!" he yelled in an aggravated tone. He looked up at the ceiling and understood that the entire mountain was ready to collapse. "I suppose that he's somehow made his peace with Primus by now."

"And that's all he really _wanted_," Liberty added. She grabbed Gray Wolf by his forearm and looked deeply into his optics. "From the onset of this mission, he really knew that this was a one way trip for himself."

Grey Wolf held her hand inside of his palm. He then turned around and began running down the hall. "Let's get the hell out of here before we end up squashed like those damn hybrid-clones of Tarantulas!"

Several hundred yards down the hallway, deeper inside of the mountain, the black Predacon, and former Decepticon, named Ravage laid on the floor of the hallway with a large portion of the ceiling on his legs. He stopped trying to lift the chuck of rock off of his frame after he realized that he no longer had feeling below his waist; he finally came to understand that there was no saving himself this time.

_Perhaps it is for the best_, he thought to himself. For a Transformer who lived as long as he has, he became tired of the faction-driven propaganda that devastated his home world over and over again. Ravage no longer had the desire to continue with the same action that claimed the sparks of almost every mech that he knew before he became a Predacon agent.

For Ravage, it had taken him a painstakingly long time, but he realized his mistakes, and that is why he led the Maximals straight to Tarantulas. He uncovered the dirty secrets of the Tripredacus through his tenure as Tarantulas partner, as well as the treachery and deception that plagued the Maximal High Command. However, all of that failed in comparison to what actually woke him from the depths of ignorance that he shrouded himself in since the orn that he was reactivated by Tripredacus Agent Tarantulas.

_"Tarantulas_," Ravage said as another smaller chunk of ceiling hit him in the head. He took his hand and wiped the dust from off of his optics. He glanced to his left and saw the end of the hallway where his adversary was locked. "I hope you rot in hell."

Then there was a loud cracking sound above the ancient Decepticon. Ravage looked upward and saw the entire ceiling structure collapse on top of himself. Ton upon ton of rock and metal slammed into the Predacon's chest and he grunted as each fragment slammed against his body. Finally, the weight became too much for the Transformer's chassis to take, and the world went black for Ravage for the last time.

Ravage's optics went from red to black as he entered terminal stasis lock, and his head slammed off of the floor. A large rock slid off of his chest and wedged itself between his neck and head. The weight of the rocks ripped Ravage's head off slowly, and then it was crushed underneath the weight of the massive boulder.

On the opposite side of the mountain was the breeding lab where Tarantulas tried to save himself. He watched as the large stasis tubes bubbled with life as they were being prepared to hatch the beings inside of them. He watched as segments of the ceiling slammed against the tubes, causing them to rupture before they were fully ready. Green gel spilled onto the floor, and the creature inside was crushed beneath the massive rock.

One by one his creations were slowly beings destroyed, and there was nothing that he could possibly do to stop it. He stood there in horror and watched as everything that he had worked on since being awakened was being torn asunder.

Tarantulas grabbed the railing and propped himself up as he made his way up the steps to the next level. He felt a small rock hit off of his back and he quickly turned around. Paranoid that there were more Maximals, or that Ravage had returned to finish the job, he reached for his sidearm and scanned the room for signs of anyone, be it Maximal or Predacon.

Disgusted with his lack of self-discipline, he threw his weapon down as he realized that he was alone in the large room. He looked at the top of the steps and continued to limp to the next level.

"Damn self-righteous throwback!" he shouted as he reached the last step. "Had you left well enough alone everything would be set!" The Predacon grabbed onto the railing and watched as the last of his hybrid clones was smashed by ceiling fragments that were falling. He took his right hand and rubbed his head as his optics widened at the horrific sight in front of him.

There was nothing left for the Predacon now. He looked around the laboratory and became nauseous at the sight of what had happened to his work. He watched as the floor to the breeding chamber opened up and swallowed the remains of his hybrid clones that he hoped to unleash upon the world, and then to Cybertron.

Revolted at the sight of his work being torn apart, there was only one phrase that he could utter. He placed his hands on his knees and looked down at the floor as if he was ashamed. "Father," he said softly, "I have failed you."

Realizing that this room was now his tomb, he did the only thing that he could do in order to preserve himself. Tarantulas hobbled over to the last stasis tube that he had left. He pried it opened and sealed it shut from the inside. He looked outside of the viewing glass and watched as the entire lab became consumed with destruction. He reached down and began to load the nourishing fluid into the tube.

As Tarantulas began to shut himself down he became more and more ashamed of himself. He had the Maximals in his grasp, and he failed. The Predacons were fighting amongst themselves, and he could have easily wiped them out with one stroke, but he hesitated too long. Cybertron, currently deep into the Great Shutdown, was ripe for the taking, and he squandered the moment. This was his opportunity summon his father and his Armada, but he had failed. Betrayed by the only Predacon he thought that he could trust, a sin amongst Predacons, he became embarrassed at his actions, and they were the thoughts that would haunt him throughout his entire time in stasis lock.

Outside of the mountain complex, Grey Wolf and Liberty approached their Maximal comrades who were watching the mountain collapse upon itself. The entire mountain was now reduced to rubble, burying all evidence that there was ever a Predacon breeding headquarters within it.

Liberty placed her hand over her mouth and gasped at the sight of the destruction. She turned her head and looked at Grey Wolf. "Any chance that Tarantulas survived that?" she asked.

Grey Wolf stood there for a moment and said nothing. He wondered if it was finally over. His band of Maximals were plagued by Tarantulas and his apocalyptic disposition since he was reactivated. He turned to her and smiled at her. "I hope not, Liberty."

On the opposite end of the mountain stood three figures who watched the mountain crumble. The center figure stood there with his arms crossed and sneered at the sight of miles of rubble. He tilted his head to his left to work out the stiffness in it, and then he looked at the figure standing next to him.

"Both Ravage and the traitor are dead," he said in a deep voice that matched the thunderous roar of the mountain collapsing. "Contact Slit Throat and have him inform the rest of the Predacons that this territory is off limits."

The smaller Predacon glanced up at his leader and gave him a puzzled look with his optics. "Does that mean that we're abiding by the treaty with the Maximals?"

The larger Predacon continued to look off into the rubble covered horizon. "It means, my dear Leach, that I do not desire to have another fiasco like this occur as long as we are here." He then smiled to himself and looked at the two Predacons standing next to him. "Which, I might add, is something that is about to change."

* * *

_Southern Oregon_

_Fifteen Years Ago_

Dust began to fly everywhere as the anti-gravitational units began creating a landing for the transport. Several members of the archeological dig began scrambling to cover their spots of the site where they have been stationed for the past two years. Others covered machinery with plastic blankets to avoid having them clogged up even more that they already were.

As the transport landed, two scientists dressed in tan pants and vests made their way out from the white trailer and over to the transport.

"I'll tell you one thing, Phil," the one scientist said to the other as they started walking down the path to the transport. "I have no intention of lettin' _them _come in here and sealin' off years of work just because we found something that they can use for _fuck's_ sake!"

The other scientist nodded in agreement with his friend. "I know what you're saying, Jenks," he replied. "But we had no choice in this situation. Regulations state. . ."

"Regulations my arse," the scientist known as Jenks, interrupted. His Irish accent was thick with criticism. He despised the government interfering with his affairs, and he disliked them even more for taking portions of his findings for their own benefit. "It's just like these bastards to waltz in and seal off the site for their own _damned _agenda."

The two scientists came to the landing pad and waited for the transport to open up. They watched as the rear of the shuttle lowered to the ground, creating a ramp where several men and women dressed in white suits ran out and over to the two scientists. Each of them had full body suits and masks that had a breathing apparatus attached to it. Several of them ran down to the archeological dig and started scrambling across the premises.

One woman walked over to the two scientists, paused for a moment, and inquisitively looked at the two men through her thin-framed glasses. Her red hair reflected the sunlight and her fair skin seemed to glisten as well. She was not dressed like the rest of teh team. Instead, she wore a white shirt that showed her flat stomach, a short pair of shorts, and a delicate pair of black snadals with a strap around the top of her feet. "Are you two Phil Jacobson and Jenkins O'Donnall?" she asked.

Phil Jacobson looked back at the woman and nodded. "What's it to you?" he heplied.

The woman looked at the two scientists and smiled back at them. "Personally, I don't give a shit," she snapped. "Just tell me where the damn artifact is."

Jenkins smiled at the woman and placed his hand on her left shoulder. "I've got an artifact for you, love." he said. He looked at the womand from her red hair to her kitten-heeled sandals and licked his lips. "I'd like to put it up your. . ."

"Over the ridge," Jacobson said as he cut off O'Donnall's remark. "The whole thing is there."

The woman smiled kindly at O'Donnall and then took his hand, twisted his arm around causing him to lean forward in hopes of easing the pain, and flung it off of her shoulder. She then began making her way to the location where Jacobson implied that the artifact was. O'Donnall gathered what remained of his pride and gently crossed his arms. He smiled as he watched the woman walk away. He turned his head and looked at his friend. "Nice arse, eh Phil?"

"She'd dislocate your shoulder if she had the time," a voice from behind the two scientists called. "I'd watch yourself next time, Jenks."

Both scientists turned around and saw a tall man in tan military garb walk toward them. Jacobson sighed as he and O'Donnall both recognized the man. "Captain Militan," Jacobson said with a smile that was noticeably forced. "What an honor it is for you to. . ."

"Spare me the pleasantries, Phil," he said. "How long have you had the thing in possession?"

O'Donnall rolled his eyes and turned around to make his way to the location of the artifact in question. "One of our interns managed to uncover the casing to the damn thing late last night," he began. "It took us all night to uncover the who blasted pod."

Militan looked over at O'Donnall as he stopped speaking. "So it _is _a pod?" he asked.

Jacobson shook his head at Militan's question. "How the hell do we know?" he said. "That's why we had to call you in here, not like we wanted to have you set us back a week or so by being here."

The three men stopped walking as they came to the edge of the site. They all peered down the ten foot ridge and into the location of the dig. The hole was round and was fifty feet across to the other ridge where several other archeologists were standing watching the activity below. Both Jacobson and O'Donnall waived to their colleagues who were just as intrigued as they were. They watched as several men and woman in the white suits examined what could only be described as a pod.

The metal pod stood up straight. A good portion of the pod was still buried below the ground, but that did not stop the swarm of military personnel from examining the object. The men and women could be seen attaching multiple devices to the pod, and some were attempting to climb on top of it.

Militan looked over at O'Donnall and smiled. "Do you realize what this means if this is what we think it is?"

O'Donnall smiled and laughed. "No, and I bloody don't give a rat's arse either."

Militan kneeled down as a man in a white suit walked over to him. "Well," Militan said. "What do we have here?"

The man in the suit nodded back at Militan. "It is what we hoped for, sir," he replied. "I suggest immediate evac from the location and get it under the knife."

"Wait a God damned minute!" O'Donnall yelled. "Who give you the right to. . . "

"Don't jerk me off, Jenks," Militan replied. "You know _damn _well that something of this magnitude belongs to us! If you want me to pull the plug on your program, then you keep screwing with me!"

O'Donnall shook his head and turned around. "Take the _fuckin' _thing, then!" he snapped. "But I hope some day that it comes back to bite you in the damn arse."

* * *

_Today_

_Wake up!_

**Neural Network: Reactivated**

**Rerouting Primary Energon Flow**

**Onboard Diagnostic Sensor Array: Re-booted**

**Internal Neurological Programming: Rerouted**

**Virus Located**

**Purging. . . . Purging. . . . Purging. . . .**

**System Clean - Virus Nullified**

**Neural Network: Online**

"What!" the mech said to itself as it began to reactivate. The optics flickered as the entire internal system network began to come online once again. It laid there on the ground and waited for his optics to become fully functional. The world was a blur for a moment, and then there was the constant throbbing. The mech held its head as it tried to ease the pain from the relentless pounding that its neural network was taking for some reason. It clutched its head tighter and hoped that the pain would end.

The robot rolled over onto its side and laid there ofr a moment as the pain that ravaged its bodya began to subside. It mustered what strength remained and then pushed itself upward. It kneeled there on the ground and looked around at the surroundings for a moment. The mech squinted its optics as itattempted to focus on the scenery that surrounded the orange and black robot, and then it realized that it was somewhere totally different than where it expected to be.

"Where the hell am I," it said through its mouthplate.

_Why my dear friend, you're still on the mud-ball planet that your tried to cleanse all those Earth years ago.  
_

The mech quickly turned its head and looked all around for the location of the voice. "Who said that?" it said. He continued to gaze off atthe trees as he desperately wanted to find the source of the voice.

_I'm hurt that you don't seem to remember me. I know I haven't forgotten you._

Frustrated, the mech clenched its fists as it realized that he could not locate the exact position of the voice. "Don't be a coward! Come out and show yourself!"

_Trust me_, the voice started. _That's something I want to solve._

The orange and black mech slowly crawled over to the quiet river that was next to him. He began to try and recall where he had heard the voice before, but everything was still nothing more than a blur. His name, his past, and teh events that lead to his current state were still vague to him. The last thing he remembered was watching rocks fall down around him while he went running for shelter. He continued to force his memory to recall how or why those events too place, but there was nothing. Nothing, that is, except more pain and that hauntingly familiar voice.

_Believe me, you're a long way away from those days_, the voice said to him.

As he reached the edge of the water, the mech looked down into the tranquil water to see his reflection, hoping to resolve some of the confusion that had clouded his memory. Unfortunately, what he saw confused the robot even further.

"Starscream?" he said loudly as he gazed at the image in the water. He was amazed that he knew the mech in the reflection, and then everything begn to flood his memory banks. "I'm not Starscream! I'm. . ."

_Tarantulas_, the shrill voice said with glee. _I know, I know. Everything's so confusing for you right now, eh old pal?_

The mech looked down and saw the reflection of Starscream's face in the water. He became more and more confused as he glanced down at the reflection. How could he be Starscream? The Decepticon seeker's body was destroyed and he was forced from Waspinator's body during teh original Beast War. Tarantulas kept searching for answers but came up with nothing. He took his hand and touched his head, but what he saw was Starscream's hand touch the face of the ancient Decepticon. He then looked at his hands and recognized his hands as his own. Frustrated by the mass of confusion and lackof logic behind his state, he took his hand, slapped the water, and stood up.

"What the hell is this about?" he shouted. "This is _my _body, not _yours_!"

_Why, that's easy Tarantulas. You were reactivated on a limited level by those fleshlings several Earth years ago. Unfortunately for you, they were able to bypass your neural network grid alignment, making you nothing more than a puppet. _

"Then how did I end up here?" Tarantulas asked. "And what does this slag have to do with you?"

_Those flesh-bags used you on a mission to encounter the Maximal dogs here on Earth, but it got botched, like it always does. I simply saw you here, all helpless and alone, and I decided to "help" you with your situation. _

"By taking over my body?" Tarantulas yelled. "So you took over my body and think that's helping me?"

_Most certainly_, Starscream's voice said sarcastically. _If it wasn't for me, you'd still be deactivated down here waiting for the Earthlings to locate you. You'd be working for those germs yet again if it wasn't for me. By "possessing" you, as you so eloquently put it, I was able to jar you neural network alignment back into its proper functioning state. Therefore, you have me to thank for being woken from that stupor_.

"And what's in it for you?" Tarantulas asked. "I know you, Starscream. You wouldn't pass up an opportunity like this for nothing, am I right?"

Starscream paused for a moment as he collected his thoughts. _Actually, there is something that you can do that would benefit the both of us_.

Tarantulas stood up and rubbed the top of what he hoped was his head. "And what is that?" he asked

_I suppose that we would do better if we were both fashioned with new bodies_.

Tarantulas laughed for a moment. "And just where do you expect me to gather enough material for two bodies?" he asked. "It's not like that material is readily available to me."

_My dear Tarantulas_, Starscream began. _I think the time in stasis lock and under the control of the humans has severely damaged your logic circuits_.

* * *

_Nemesis_

_Pacific Ocean_

Kross sat there in his office and looked at the holographic map of the Earth that was projected from the table. He continued to wallow over and over again about his current situation and the defeat that he had taken at the hands of both the Maximals and the Autobots. He watched as the map rotated and glanced at several other key locations where he thought he should turn to get an advantage over Prowl and his team.

_Where did it go wrong?_ he thought to himself. So far his endeavor to regain a tactical advantage over the Maximals had failed on so many levels that he began to question his methods. He continued to glare at the map of Earth and never noticed that the door to the room had opened.

Malpractice stood at the entrance for a brief moment and watched as Kross brooded over the map; he knew exactly what he was thinking about. Then, the Predacon engineer approached his leader.

"Predacons like us are not fit for Cybertron anymore, so we do what we can to survive," Malpractice said to Kross. Realizing that his leader was not phased by his words, the continued. "You, me, Cryotec, Magmatron, and even that narcissistic bastard Megatron all understand that Cybertron is no longer a place where we can live."

Kross looked up at Malpractice and shook his head. "All of that was supposed to change with this mission," he said softly. "But somehow everything went to slag!"

Malpractice sat down next to Kross and looked at the image of Earth. "What happened was that you never took into account that the Maximals would actually _send _a team to Earth, and that they would reach Mextroplex first, or that they would discover several Autobots in storage."

Kross stood up and walked over to the thick glass window of the room. He gazed out of it and saw several fish swim away from the window. "And how are things to change?" he asked. "We're stuck here with no reinforcements from the weak Predacon command."

"Even the best leaders know when they've been outdone," Malpractice said. "But I wouldn't call it quits yet." He stood up and walked over to Kross who now turned around to see his friend. "What you need is an _advantage_."

"And the Combatacons were supposed to provide us with that advantage," Kross said.

"Bruticus and the Combatacons are one advantage, but they're rusty and clearly need time to get back on track," Malpractice said. He reached for his side pack and handed Kross a data pad. "What I'm talking about is an advantage like _this_."

Kross looked over the information that streamed across the screen. He looked up at Malpractice and nodded. "Indeed. An advantage like this would solve all our problems, but how do you know that it will work?"

Malpractice smiled and turned around to leave the room. "An operation such as this has some degree of danger, but that is why you try it out of someone, like Weasel." He placed his hand on the keypad to open the door and watched as it slid upward. He turned his head slightly and caught Kross in the corner of his optics. "Should I begin to make the preparations?"

Kross looked over at Malpractice and nodded. "Indeed you should, my old friend."

* * *

_Outer Orbit of Cybertron_

The white hole opened up in the middle of space with an absolute brilliance that would blind anyone who looked directly at it happening. From out of the center of the white space emerged an orange shuttle carrying what seemed to be a large red robot. The large figure was strapped to the hull by energy couplings. Once the ship slowly passed out of the hole, the vortex snapped shut in a flash and vanished without a trace of its existence.

On the shuttle were six Transformers who felt that they had been away from home for far too long. Each of them smiled at each other as they saw the sphere off in the distance that could be the only thing that gave them comfort after being away for so long.

"Way to go there, Rhinox," the smallest Transformer said with a smile on his face. "I never thought that I'd see this place again!"

The tall brown and green Transformer known as Rhinox smiled and looked down at his smaller friend. "To tell you the truth, Rattrap, I kind of felt the same way for a time back on Earth."

A yellow Transformer smiled at the growing image of the planet and stood next to the two Maximals that he calls friends. "Well, what are we waiting for?" he said happily. "Let's get home!"

"Hold on there, Cheetor," a deep voice called from the back of the bridge. "I highly doubt that the Maximal High Command will authorize the landing of this shuttle without proper notification. After all, we've been away from Cybertron for quite some time and some of us aren't the same as when we left."

Rattrap smiled and turned around to face his leader. "Awwwwwwwwwww, that ain't nothin' boss bot," he said. "I'm sure that the High Command would welcome back the great _Optimus Primal_!"

Cheetor smiled and walked over to the communication station. "Don't worry, Optimus. I'll contact _Ark Haven _and let them know about our status."

Optimus Primal walked over to the two other Maximals who stood next to each other. The taller Maximal had his arms around the smaller one and embraced her as if he was offering protection to her. Optimus Primal kneeled down and looked at the two Maximals. "I wouldn't worry about anything, Black Arachnia," he said calmly. "We all agreed that you are a Maximal, and that you only worked for Megatron under false pretenses."

"Easy for you to say," the female Maximal said. "I only hope that the Maximal High Command feels the same way."

"Not to worry, my dear," the Maximal who held her said in a comforting tone. "They have no knowledge of the Beast War that took place on Earth."

"Only if we didn't rupture the fabric of the time continuum," Rhinox said. "When we left Cybertron over one Earth year ago, there was no knowledge of the so called Beast War, but if we somehow left evidence, then we may have disrupted the delicate time line that we were familiar with."

"Sheesh," Rattrap said. "What a way to offer Silverbolt a hand."

Optimus Primal looked over at Rattrap and nodded. "Unfortunately Rhinox is right," he began. "If we left evidence of the conflict on Earth, or if Ravage somehow managed to get word back to the Tripredacus, then everything may be shot to slag."

"I think that everything may already be shot to slag, heroes!" Cheetor yelled.

All of the Maximals ran over to the communication consol where Cheetor attempted to contact the _Ark Haven_. They all stood there as Cheetor began to feed the communication into the speakers. What they heard deeply disturbed everyone on the shuttle.

**"All Maximal shuttles are to avoid contact with Iacon airspace at all costs. Re-entry with Cybertron is to be redirected through Orbital Torus State Helix through the designated clearance codex provided by transponder identification number. Departing Maximal shuttles and War-birds are required to avoid contact with emergency crews en-route to Iacon. In addition, all non-Cybertronian shuttles requesting permission to land will be denied under direct order from Phoenix Prime and the Maximal High Command. You will be redirected to several additional locations through contact with Titus II. Please be advised that under the current state, you may be required to have a Maximal boarding party come onboard if there is reasonable suspicion. Please make all effort to cooperate with the implemented regulations as we are currently in a state of planet-wide emergency. For additional information, please tune in to the Cybertronian Emergency Network Broadcast currently underway."**

Rattrap slowly turned his head and gazed up at Optimus Primal. "What does this mean, boss?" he asked.

Optimus Primal shook his head and continued to gaze out of the window of the bridge. "I have no idea, Rattrap. I have no idea."

_End Book I_


End file.
